Renatus
by the original KEA
Summary: What if your existence was a game? Created by the spirits for pure amusement. Shuffled through the ages, living through it all. Being reborn, but remembering nothing. When she dies one last time, she'll go to where the spirits are strongest...  AU
1. Book 1 Chapter 1: Finding Emma

Freezing water surrounded me. I couldn't feel my body.

I tried to call for help.

I screamed.

The waves threatened to pull me under.

I was drowning.

I was going to die.

Then two hands were wrapped around my torso and heaving me up out of the water.

The last thing I saw was a full moon before I fell unconscious.

* * *

><p>The smell of roasting meat assaulted my nose and I had to fight to control my gag reflex. I sat straight up, coughing, until I realized that I felt no need to. I stopped. An elderly woman with dark skin and gray hair shoved a bowl of wrinkly purple things under my nose. "Eat this, it will warm you." I was about the refuse when a cold chill wracked my body. I reluctantly swallowed my disgust and swallowed one. Not bad. The old woman stared at me while I scarfed down the warm meal. She and I looked nothing alike, with my pale skin and light hair, but I couldn't help but feel like I knew her from someplace.<p>

When I was done with...whatever it was that I was eating, the woman started to talk. "Hello," she said slowly. "My name is Kanna." She took my empty bowl and set it aside. "Who are you?" I opened my mouth and then closed it. What was my name again...? "Um, Emma?" "You don't sound so sure about that." "I-I'm not sure..." "Can you tell me why you washed up on the shore of our village?"

In the back of my head, I could remember my mother's face, and my brother's, my sisters', and my dad's. I could remember so much coughing.

I furrowed my brow. "I don't remember." I clutched my fists. When I could feel my eyes start to water, I shut them. "I don't know how I got here!" Kanna put her hand on my shoulder. "There, there. Everything will be fine."

* * *

><p>"<em>I'm fine, mom. It's just a cough."<em>

* * *

><p>I shook my head slowly. Outside the tent, I could hear a guy's voice arguing. "She's a Fire Nation spy! We can't trust her. Did you see the weird clothes she was dressed in?" Then came a muffled sound of somebody being hit. "Would you stop being so paranoid?" "Ow, that hurt, Katara!"<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>You're fifteen years old; you need to stop watching theses stupid cartoons."<em>

"_Mom, it's not just a cartoon."_

* * *

><p>I slowly opened my eyes as a kind looking girl and a sour faced boy walked into the tent. Both had strange haircuts. "Hello," the girl said. ""My name's Katara and this is my brother Sokka." Sokka grunted. The girl turned to the old woman and handed her a pile of blue fur. "Here you go, Gran Gran. The coats you wanted and the extra pair of boots and gloves." I looked down at what I was wearing. Grey sweatpants and an orange tank top. It was so different from the fur theses people were wearing.<p>

The boy named Sokka was shooed out of the tent as the two women, the younger one not looking any older than myself, helped me into my new clothes.

* * *

><p>For a week, I lived in the village that I apparently washed up at.<p>

I was told how I was found.

The boy named Sokka was out fishing when he saw my body float up from the water. He had watched for a minute as I floated harmlessly, until I had started to thrash and yell. As I had started to sink under the violent waves, he pulled me onto his canoe. Then he had carried me into the village, wrapped in his coat to keep warm. It was very brave of him to rescue me like that, and I couldn't help but feel like I was in debt to him.

Sitting against an igloo, with my blond hair braided down my back, I looked up at the moon. It wasn't full anymore, but it still felt powerful. Katara sat besides me and looked up at the sky. "The moon is an amazing thing, isn't it?" I didn't look away from the giant orb, but I nodded my head slowly.

The other people in the village thought I was in shock, or just plain quiet, but the truth was, I was in denial.

It had been a week since I had been found in the ocean. It had been a week since I remembered my death.

I wasn't from here. This made up fantasy world wasn't real. It was just something off of TV.

How could I be living in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender?

* * *

><p>*AN/*

I've been working on this (completely unoriginal) idea for a while. Sort of inspired by 14shadowrose's fanfic: Instinct, which you should totally check out. Tell me if you like the beginning of it. I'm warning you that it will start out slow before anything super duper interesting happens. If you like it, tell me and I'll write more. If not, tell me so I don't waste our time.

-theoriginalKEA, A.K.A. The amazing Bri


	2. Book 1 Chapter 2: The Boy in the Iceberg

I woke up to the sound of Sokka trying to get the little kids to do war drills. With my eyes closed shut, I heard a thud, and then giggling.

I sighed. It was time to get up.

It had been a month that I was living here, and I was starting to get comfortable.

I left the tent and saw Sokka buried in snow that used to be his precious watchtower. I couldn't help but giggle myself.

He looked at me and rolled his eyes. Shaking snow out of his ponytail, Sokka jumped up and pointed his spear at me.

"Stop laughing. If you don't be careful-"

"What," Katara butt in. "What will you do if she isn't 'careful'?"

Sokka looked from me to Katara and back to me again. With an important looking pose, he stuck his spear into the snow. "She'll be banished from the South Pole!"

I snorted. "You can't _banish_ me from the South Pole."

He narrowed his eyes and slumped over. He raised a finger, his mouth open to say something before he closed his mouth and dropped his hand in defeat.

Katara rolled her own eyes and pushed Sokka over into the snow pile. I giggled again.

* * *

><p>Sokka started getting a canoe ready for a fishing trip.<p>

"Sokka, you can't go alone," Gran Gran said.

"But all my men are taking naps," he whined.

Gran Gran looked around. "What about Emmy or Katara?"

I looked up from the sea prunes I was cooking. Katara never went with Sokka to fish. I remembered the first episode of Avatar...Katara and Sokka fishing.

"I, uh, have to finish cooking lunch."

Katara and Sokka needed to do this. They might found Aang.

"Katara's over there with Ying. She can go with him."

Katara gave me a betrayed look. I stuck my tongue out at her and smiled.

* * *

><p>Katara and Sokka left about three hours ago. I paced back and forth, trying not to think about certain things when I saw a beam of light touch the sky off in the distance. I couldn't help but smile a bit.<p>

The little girl named Ying tugged on my sleeve. I crouched down to her level. "What is it, Ying?"

"Do you know what that light is?"

I smiled at her. "Don't worry. It's not a bad thing. Let me tell you a secret."

Ying jumped up and down in excitement. "Tell me, Emmy!"

I leaned over and cupped my gloved hand around her ear. "It means that something really good is going to happen," I whispered into her tiny ear. She covered her mouth and giggled.

* * *

><p>A while later, Katara and Sokka came back on a giant floating bison. Appa.<p>

"Emmy," Katara called out to me. "Will you help me carry him into a tent? I don't want to wake him up."

I made my way over to Appa. He was so much bigger than I imagined. I couldn't even reach up and touch the top of him.

On Appa's head, Aang was fast asleep.

All around us, the woman and their children were forming a small half circle. I could hear them murmuring to each other. What was that giant beast? Who was the little bald boy with the bright clothes and the blue tattoos?

Slowly, ignoring the looks I got from the women, I took off my glove and reached out to touch Appa. His fur was smooth and warm, just like I had imagined it to be. This was so unreal.

Katara and I brought Aang into an empty tent and laid him down under some fur.

My eyes lingered on his forehead.

"I think he's the avatar." Katara reached down and ran a hand over his arrow. "He's got to be that last airbender. There's no way he's not."

I didn't say anything.

Outside, Gran Gran was waiting for us.

Over near a well, Sokka was washing Appa snot off his coat.

I listened as Katara recounted how they met Aang. When Katara was almost through, I silently left.

Making my way outside the snow wall, I found a secluded spot near the water.

For the hundredth time since I got here I wondered about my _reason_ for me being here. Why else would I be in the Avatar world?

_Maybe_, I thought, _maybe I have to go with Katara and Aang and Sokka_.

But what could I contribute?

_Maybe I was a bender?_

That was impossible, but if I was, what kind of bender was I?

I tried air first. I tried to blow air out my hand. Nothing.

Maybe water?

I swept my hand in a way similar to how I'd seen Katara do it on television. The water rippled, and I gasped in excitement, only to slouch back down when I realized a fish had done it.

A rock was a few feet away from me. I pointed my hand halfheartedly at it and when nothing happened; I started to feel like I was just fooling myself.

Unless...

I looked skeptically at my hand. I thought about things that were warm. The sun, mostly. I took a deep breath. Closing my eyes, I flourished my hand. I didn't feel anything.

Sighing, I opened my eyes.

"Whoa!"

I shook my glove off and patted snow on it frantically. It was on fire!

I looked around me to make sure no one else saw it. I was alone.

"Life just likes to laugh at me, doesn't it?"

A_ firebender? _Really!A_ firebender_, of all things.

Experimenting, I snapped my fingers.

Like a match, my fingers caught fire, but I didn't feel any burning sensation.

I brought my hand closer to my face and studied the flames. After a few minutes, I tried making the fire bigger. All five fingers were now enclosed in flames.

I could feel my hand getting hotter with every second that passed. No matter how hot it got, it was never uncomfortable.

The exact opposite in fact. I felt totally relaxed, something I hadn't been since I got here.

I heard a swooshing from above and quickly shook my hand, extinguishing the fire. Pulling my glove back on, I cautiously reentered the village walls. Flying through the air was the Avatar on his glider.

I was suddenly paranoid. Apparently, I was a firebender, and I was in the middle of a water tribe. Of course, I was sure if I tried, they wouldn't be able to stop me if I spontaneously decided to attack them, but still.

I watched as Sokka yelled at Aang for distracting 'his men'. Then I heard "Penguin!" and watched as Aang ran off at an unbelievable speed. I joined Katara as she followed him.

"Aang?" Katara called for the airbender. We heard laughing and saw him trying to pin down a four-flippered penguin. He fell in the snow and airbended himself up. We joined him.

"I have a way with animals," Aang said, trying to impress Katara. He continued to impersonate a penguin. Katara and I laughed.

"Hello there," Aang said, noticing me for the first time. "My name's Aang! What's yours?"

"Emmy."

He smiled. "Nice to meet you, Emmy."

"Um, likewise."

He smiled again and then lunged at a penguin. He fell in the snow.

"Aang. I'll teach you how to catch a penguin if you teach me how to waterbend."

I bit my lip.

"No problem, Katara. Just one thing. I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe that can teach you?"

Katara looked away. I tuned out for a second, watching two penguins fight over a fish. I heard tidbits about Aang offering to fly her to the North Pole, and finding Katara a waterbending master. I remembered this happening in the show.

I walked over to the penguins that were fighting over the fish and took it from them.

"Here, Aang," I said, handing him the fish. Penguins immediately surrounded him, and he was quickly buried. He popped back up with his arms around a struggling penguin. Katara had gotten a penguin of her own.

Aang looked at me, penguinless. "Aren't you going to come penguin sliding?"

I held up my hands. "I think I'll pass."

Katara grabbed my wrist tenderly. "What happened to your glove?"

The tip of my glove was burnt from my firebending, but I couldn't tell her that.

"I, uh, burnt it while I was making lunch."

She looked at me for a second, then shrugged and turned away.

Aang was still looking at me, a sad expression on his face. "How come you don't want to go sliding with us?" His bottom lip stuck out, pouting.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I don't know how," I said truthfully.

His smile almost took up his entire face. "Then I guess Katara and I'll have to teach you!"

I raised an eyebrow and stared at him dubiously. I inhaled deeply when his expression stayed the same and let it out all at once. "Fine," I said, defeated.

He jumped a few feet into the air, letting his penguin go at the same time.

"Oh no!"

Katara brought another fish from her coat and gave one to Aang and another to me. I looked at her.

"What?"  
>"Why do you keep so many dead fish in your coat?"<p>

She flushed red, embarrassed. Aang laughed.

* * *

><p>One penguin sliding lesson later, Aang, Katara and I were sliding down the frosty hills. Aang and Katara slid circles around me (Aang was literally sliding circles around me), but I was still enjoying myself.<p>

A voice in my head nagged me. I couldn't help but feel like something was going to happen, but I couldn't figure out what.

As we slid through a tunnel, I saw a ship frozen in ice.

_Oh yeah. That._

The penguins came to a stop. We climbed off as the penguins waddled back to their colony.

"Whoa, what is that?" Aang stepped forward into the shadow of the large ship.

"It's a Fire Navy ship." Katara said gravely. "And a very bad memory for my people."

Aang started to walk closer. I grabbed his shoulder.

"No, Aang."

"Aang, stop. The ship could be booby trapped."

He looked at both of us. "If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear."

I shook my head. "That has nothing to do with bending. It's dangerous. The only thing that could come from you going on that ship is getting yourself into trouble."

"How would you know?" Katara countered. "You're not a bender."

I swallowed back what I wanted to say and watched as they climbed the ice, through a hole in the hull.

Aang looked back at me. "You sure you won't come?" I looked at him evenly, frowning. He shrugged.

"Suit yourself."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, I heard a rumbling from the inside of the ship, and then a flare went off.<p>

I watched as Aang hopped out the top with Katara in his arms.

I started running, Katara and Aang right on my heels.

"I'm not sure if this is the right time to say this," I yelled over the screeching noise of the flare, "But I told you so!"

* * *

><p>*AN/* I know what you're thinking. Person from the real world somehow magically ends up in the TV series ATLA and is magically a firebender. How original. I have a very good reason for why I chose firebending for Emma. The firebending in the show is based mainly on the Northern Shaolin style of kung fu, which I myself have trained in. So you see, if I can use my own person training as a reference for Emma's bending, it will be easier for me to write the story. Happy?  
>And you probably don't care, but I've also dabbled a little bit in the Yang style of Tai Chi Chuan and the Hung Gar style, which waterbending and earthbending are based off of respectively, so I'm planning on giving Emma's bending some more diversity. Makes for a better fanfiction. So you better be damn happy :P<p> 


	3. Book 1 Chapter 3: the Avatar returns

We returned to the village, Katara and Aang bowing their heads in shame. The little kids ran to join Aang. Their mothers looked at them angrily.

Sokka came to the front of the group. "I knew it!" He said, pointing at Aang. "You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare. You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?"

"Aang didn't do anything," Katara defended him. "It was an accident."

"Yeah! We were on the ship and there was this booby trap, and well, we boobied right into it." Aang rubbed the back of his head guiltily. Kanna looked at Katara. "You shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger!"

"Don't blame Katara, or Aang," I spoke up. "It was an accident." Sokka pointed to me. "And what part did you play in this?"

I looked at Aang and Katara, then at Sokka. "I-I was the one who suggested we go on the ship. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

"So the traitor confesses!"

Aang started to speak up, but I gave him a look, wishing he could read my mind._ Don't say anything! Let me take the blame._ Sokka kept talking. "I knew you were bad news. I banish you from the village!"

I swallowed a lump in my throat and started to leave. Aang grabbed my wrist. "No, Emmy. Don't leave, I-" He didn't get to finish because I grabbed him into a hug. "Don't take the blame," I hissed into his ear, so no one else could hear me. "If the Fire Navy comes, these people will need the Avatar to help them." I heard him gasp quietly.

Releasing him, I could see him give me a surprised look. I then turned on my heel and left.

As I left, I could hear Katara and Sokka arguing.

Suddenly, something was clinging to my arm. It was Ying. "Don't go, Emmy. I'll miss you." I felt my eyes begin to water. Leaning down, I gave her a hug. "I'll miss you too."

And then I left, my head held high. I was glad my back was to everybody, so they couldn't see the tears.

No one followed me.

* * *

><p>I wandered aimlessly for about an hour before I found a familiar ice formation and leaned against it.<p>

A cold wind blew.

Shivering, I made sure no one else was around.

Then I took of my gloves and set my hands on fire, rubbing them against each other.

Instantly I felt better.

And then I looked out at the water and saw a Fire Navy ship. I groaned. The fire wasn't making me so happy anymore.

* * *

><p>By the time I got back to the village, I saw the blaze of fire inside the snow walls. "Not good, not good, not good," I chanted as I slid down a snow bank. I got to the walls and peered around them. Sokka was charging at Zuko. Zuko flipped Sokka over his back, causing Sokka to land on his rear. Then Zuko shot fire at him.<p>

I watched as Sokka evaded the flames and threw his boomerang at the banished prince. It missed, but Zuko was still angry. I decided that was my cue. I stepped from behind the pile of snow.

"Leave them alone!"

As Zuko and his soldiers turned to face me, Sokka's boomerang came back and smacked Zuko in the back of his head. If he was mad before, he was furious now. His hands glowed as he made blades of fire. Facing Sokka again, he walked forward menacingly. "Hey!" I yelled. "I said to leave them alone!"

He didn't pay attention to me.

I didn't want to do this, but if it could save the village, I had to. I was about to light my hands again, but before I could, Aang stepped out from behind an Igloo, holding his glider. "She said to _leave them alone_." Before I could blink, Aang used his glider to blow snow at the Fire Nation soldiers.

On Zuko's command, the soldiers surrounded Aang. "You're the airbender?" he asked incredulously. "_You're_ the Avatar?" Aang took a fighting stance.

The villagers looked at Aang in shock.

Zuko and Aang began to circle each other. As they did, Zuko went on about how had been training for this moment. "You're just a child," he yelled. Aang straightened. "Well you're just a teenager."

Zuko started hurling fire at Aang.

I panicked just a little. Suddenly, I had a rare brilliant idea. With my hands clasped between my back, I tried to discreetly use firebending to make Zuko's fire smaller by closing my hand, as if I was closing my hand over his fire. It was difficult. After a moment, sweat dotted my forehead and my hands felt like they were under pressure, but I kept trying.

Zuko's next fireball was feeble. He tried again. And again. His fire got halfway to Aang before I made it fizzle into just a spark.

"What is happening?" Zuko shouted. Aang stayed in a defensive stance, watching curiously. "How long were you training again?" Frustrated, Zuko punched straight up into the air.

I tried, but his anger was so great that it outdid my bending. I released my hold on his bending with an exhausted grunt. A twenty foot pillar of fire lit up the villager's faces.

Aang looked back as the villagers shrank away from the flames, and his expression softened. He stuck his glider into the snow. "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" A long moment passed before Zuko relaxed his stance and nodded. Fire nation soldiers grabbed him by his arms and tugged him onto the ship.

"No, Aang. Don't do this!" Katara ran out helplessly.

Looking back, Aang tried to reassure her. "Don't worry, Katara. It'll be okay." The soldier shoved him forward. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back." As the ship's door closed, Aang smiled sadly down at everybody.

We all watched helplessly as the ship left.

* * *

><p>After the Fire Navy ship left with Aang, the villagers walked sadly around the village, setting tents back up and digging things out from under fallen snow.<p>

From the top of the wall, I watched as Katara stared out after the long gone ship, and Sokka, who was filling a canoe. Kanna brought them more supplies and said her goodbyes to Sokka and Katara.

When she left, I made my way down to them.

I had thought long and hard about this. Katara, Aang and Sokka would be going to the North Pole, right? And the first thing I could remember from being here was the full moon. The moon spirit was at the North Pole, and I think it had something to do with my being here. If anything, it might have seen what happened to me and could point me in the right direction.

If I wanted answers, the best place for me to look for them would be at the North Pole. And the quickest way to get there? Via Flying Bison.

"I'm coming with you," I sad, as I stood next to their canoe. "I, uh, need to get answers about my past and find my home." I hated lying, but if it was necessary, than so be it.

They looked at me and my bag, then at each other. Sokka began to say something, but I spoke over him. "I'm not going to take no for an answer."

"But, three of us won't fit in a canoe."

As he spoke, Appa climbed over a hill.

"Who said we were taking the canoe?"

* * *

><p>We floated in the ocean on the back of Appa. Sokka leaned his back against the saddle. "Go. Fly. Soar."<p>

"Sokka, would you shut up?"

"Up. Ascend. Elevate." He huffed. "What was it that kid said?"

I made sure Katara was holding tight to the reins. "Yip yip."

With a splash of his tail, Appa swam faster until he was kicking off the water and flying higher into the sky. "You did, it Emmy!" In the saddle, Sokka was freaking out. "He's flying! He's flying!" I smirked.

* * *

><p>"There it is!" Katara pointed down towards the ship.<p>

On deck, I could see Zuko jump on top of Aang's glider, bringing them both to the deck. He shot a fire blast and knocked Aang overboard. "Aang!" Katara called. "Aang! Aang!"

I could hear a rumbling. Then Aang burst upwards, out of the ocean, a spinning tower of water connected to him. I could see his eyes and tattoos glowing bright white. He used waterbending to take out the soldiers and Zuko, sending them overboard.

I took Appa's reins as Katara and Sokka watched Aang.

"Did you see what he just did?"

"Now _that_ was some waterbending!"

I tried to land Appa on the ship as I saw Aang come out of the avatar state and start to faint. Katara and Sokka jumped off of Appa to help Aang. I stayed on top so we could make a quick getaway.

As Sokka ran to get Aang's discarded staff, Zuko reached out and grabbed one end. On instinct, Sokka took the end of it and jabbed him in the head until he let go of it and fell overboard again. "Ha! That's from the Water Tribe!" Sokka yelled over the edge of the ship.

Katara loaded Aang onto Appa. Some soaked Fire Nation soldiers started to advance with spears. Trying to waterbend, Katara froze Sokka feet in place. So she turned around and tried again, this time freezing all three of the soldiers solid. Katara clambered up Appa.

"C'mon Sokka," I yelled, annoyed. I heard him mutter something about boomerangs and magic before he finally freed himself

"Yip yip! Yip yip!" he yelled as he climbed up Appa's tail.

As Appa took off, I saw Iroh come onto the deck. I had always liked him as a character, so I smiled and waved as we flew away. His eyes got wide as he saw Appa, but he waved back slowly. I looked straight ahead and grinned.

We were almost away when I heard Zuko yell "Shoot them down!"

As Zuko and Iroh's fireball got closer, Aang prepared to use airbending to redirect it. Instead, I did what I did earlier, reducing the fireball to the size of a baseball. It lost momentum and fell back into the water. I panted from the effort.

I smiled at Aang's confused expression.

"WHY DOES THAT KEEP HAPPENING?" I laughed at Zuko's angry scream and Sokka looked at me like I was crazy.

"Aang," I called back to him, slightly frantic. "What is it, Emmy?" I pointed to the tall wall of snow and ice. "Use your airbending there to cause an avalanche on the ship. It will slow them down and give us more time to escape."

He nodded.

* * *

><p>We were a few miles away, floating calmly above smooth water.<p>

"How did you do that? With the water!" Exclaimed Katara. "It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

I glanced at Aang, who was balanced on the edge of the saddle.

"I don't know," Aang said. "I just sort of, did it." Katara looked at Aang. "Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" I squeezed the reins harder. "Because, I never wanted to be." Aang turned away in shame.

The shadow of a cloud passed over us before the clouds uncovered the sun, shining light on all of us. I shielded my eyes against the glare.

"Aang," Katara continued. "The world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war."

"And how am I going to do that?"

I spoke up from my spot on Appa's head. "First, he's got to master water, then earth, then firebending. He has to do all that before he can stop the Fire Lord, and he has to master the elements in _that specific order_."

Katara smiled. "If we go to the North Pole, we can find a waterbending master for Aang. We can learn together." Sokka smiled from the back of the saddle. "Not to mention the Fire Nation butt we can kick on the way."

"So it's settled," I said. "We head to the North Pole."

Aang pulled out a map. "Alright. But first, we've got to make a few side trips for some important business." "Like what?" "Hopping llamas, koi fish surfing, and wild hogmonkey riding."

I smiled. "Sounds like fun."


	4. Book 1 Chapter 4: Southern Air Temple

_I tucked my sisters into their beds, and then tucked my little brother in._

_As I went to turn off the lights, my youngest sister spoke up._

"_You're forgetting something, Emma."_

_I smiled and went and sat on her bed. "How could I forget?"_

_Nighty night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, I'll see you in the morning, and I love you."_

_She leaned forward and hugged me tightly. "I love you too, Emmy."_

_I smiled as I turned the light off and closed her bedroom door._

_With a satisfying click, it was closed and I made my way to my own room. _

_I reached my bed before I started coughing violently._

I sat straight up, breathing frantically.

Looking around me, I saw that Aang was asleep against Appa, and Katara and Sokka were tucked in their sleeping bags. The fire was getting small, so I tossed a small ball of fire at it to stoke it. Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I lay back down and roll over, trying to fall back asleep.

* * *

><p>"Sokka. Sokka!"<p>

I nudged a sleeping Sokka with my foot.

"Come on! We're leaving."

Sokka rolled over in his sleeping bag so his rear was facing me.

"If you don't get up, we'll leave without you."

Katara rolled her eyes.

"Wait until you see the Southern Air Temple, you guys. It's one of the most beautiful places in the world," Aang said as he tied Appa's reins tighter.

I looked away, biting my lip. I knew how this was going to turn out.

"Hey, uh, Aang? Maybe we should just head straight for the North Pole. The quicker we get there, the better." It wouldn't work, but it was worth a try. Aang looked at me. "How can you say that, Emmy? I haven't been there in a hundred years. I'm so excited to see all my old friends!"

Sighing, I kicked Sokka.

"HEY! I'm trying to sleep, here." I kicked him again. "Get up, lazy. We're going to the air temple."

I knew I sounded sour, but the only good thing about going to the air temple would be finding Momo.

Sokka still wouldn't get up, so I kicked him one more time. He sat straight up, rubbing his side. "You didn't have to kick me so hard!" I snorted. "Next time you'll get up when I tell you to then, won't you?

He groaned.

* * *

><p>Within the hour, we were soaring in the direction of the Southern Air Temple.<p>

Aang had control of the reins, since I had absolutely no idea where I was going, and Katara sat next to him. Sokka and I were in the saddle. For about the fiftieth time this morning, Sokka complained about being hungry. He started rummaging around in his bag.

Since I had started the fire last night with my bending (an unknown fact to the other three), I had saved Sokka's blubbered seal jerky from being used in the campfire. He found the bag and pulled out a fistful.

My stomach growled.

Sokka looked at me with an evil look on his face. "If you apologize for kicking me, I'll give you some jerky." He swung a piece in front of my face. Before he could move it, I took that piece and started eating it.

"Hey! You didn't apologize!" I kept chewing.

"You really should say sorry, Emmy." Aang spoke up from where he was sitting. Katara scoffed. "She doesn't need to. He wouldn't get up." I smiled. "_Thank you_, Katara, for agreeing with me."

I stole another piece of jerky from Sokka. He glared at me, clutched the rest of it, and swung them out of my reach. I stuck my tongue at him and put the piece I stole in my mouth.

From my perch in the saddle, I could hear Katara talking to Aang. She would be warning him about what the Fire Nation could have done to the Air Nomads. What the Fire Nation _did_ to the Air Nomads.

I stayed quiet and ate my jerky.

* * *

><p>We finally made it to the mountain range that the air temple was located near. "Yip yip!" Aang had Appa flying faster, climber steeper into the air.<p>

I held my stomach with one hand and forced my mouth to stay shut with the other. We circled a mountain, and then flew straight up it. After we passed through some clouds, I saw the air temple. It was magnificent. The cartoon did not do it justice. There, carved into the mountain, but still looking like it belonged there, was the Southern Air Temple.

"Aang," Katara exclaimed. "It's amazing!"

"We're home, Appa," Aang murmured to the flying bison. "We're home."

* * *

><p>Aang landed Appa on a ledge that looked like it was made to land giant flying bison's, which it probably was.<p>

We slid off. When we were all on the ground, Appa took off.

"Hey-!"

"It's alright, Sokka. He's probably going to visit some other bison. He'll be back before we leave." And with that, Aang started running up one of the carved paths. We all followed.

After a while of walking, Sokka started to complain. "My feet hurt! When are we going to rest? I'm hungry!"

Katara scolded him. "You're lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to _ever_ visit an airbender temple, and all you can think about is food? Didn't you eat on Appa?"

"Walking makes me hungry. I'm just a simple guy with simple needs, Katara."

"Maybe," I started. "We shouldn't have left the jerky with Appa." I clutched my stomach as it growled again.

"Not you too!"

Up ahead, Aang motioned to a field of giant wooden pegs stuck in the ground. "That's where my friends and I would play airball." He pointed to a field of bare rock. "And that's where the bison used to sleep, and..." He trailed off and sighed.

I walked away from the group and started walking a little bit farther on the path. No one noticed me leave. On the path, I saw a Fire Nation soldier's helmet. I picked it up and dumped it behind some bushes.

When I came back from my walk, Aang was airbending Sokka up one of the wooden pegs. I smiled. Then I looked at Katara. She had a sad look on her face. I found a way down the cliff and joined her. She looked at me, surprised.

"Where'd you go? I didn't even realize you were gone." I bit my lip. "The Fire Nation was here," I whispered. She gasped. Over on the pegs, Aang had knocked Sokka to the ground and was helping him get back up.

I looked on the ground around us and spotted the helmet that Katara and Sokka had found in the episode. I took my hand and wiped the snow from the hill above onto the helmet, concealing it. Katara was right next to me. "This is horrible. What are we going to do?"

"Nothing," I murmured. "Nothing yet."

* * *

><p>We were led up more stairs to Monk Gyatso's statue. As Aang sped ahead, Katara and I filled Sokka in.<p>

"The Fire Nation was here. We can't pretend they weren't." "We can for Aang's sake. If he finds out the Fire Nation invaded his home, we don't know how he could react."_ I do. _

I turned my head away from them. I wish there was something I could do, but-as much as I hate it-he has to go through this.

"Hey, guys! I want you to meet somebody. Let me introduce you to Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know." Aang bowed to the statue of his mentor. I waited as Aang remembered a time with Gyatso. I think it was something about cakes.

Katara walked up to him when he straightened. "You must miss him."

"Yeah." He started to walk up the stairs behind the statue.

"Where are you going?"

"The air temple sanctuary. There's someone I'm ready to meet." He kept walking. Katara looked at me for clarity. I shrugged halfheartedly.

We followed Aang up the staircase and down a long corridor until we reached the gateway to the air temple sanctuary. Even If I was on the tips of my toes, I still wouldn't be able to touch the intricate set of pipes. Katara and Sokka exchanged a 'look'. "Aang, no one could have survived in there for a hundred years."

He looked up at the pipes and smiled. "It's not impossible. I was in the iceberg for that long."

"Good point."

"Katara," Aang said hopefully. "Who ever is in there can help me with this avatar thing."

"And who ever is in there might have a medley of _delicious_ cured meats." Sokka rubbed his hands together and dashed into to the wall.

I stifled a laugh behind my glove. "Sokka. You've got to use airbending to open it." Aang turned to me. "How did you know that?" "Um, common sense? It's an _air_ temple, after all." "Oh. Yeah, I guess so."

"So what are you waiting for?" Sokka whined. "Open it up with your magic air!"

"Sokka," Katara started. "It's not magic, it's-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

Aang stepped in front of the doors. He inhaled deeply. While he exhaled, he thrust his hands forward and shot two bursts of air into the trumpet like openings. The air traveled through the pipes, causing the door to unlock and swing open. Katara, Sokka and I stood there in shock, the sound of the door opening echoing in our ears and in the sanctuary.

Aang cupped his hand around his mouth. "Hello?" he called. "Anyone home?" He started to walk forward until the shadows started to cover him. We followed.

The light from outside shone on some of the wooden statues. I looked around the large cavern. They were everywhere. I looked up and couldn't see the ceiling. They went on, spiraling upwards until the shadows made it so I couldn't see them anymore.

Ahead of me, Katara and Sokka were inspecting a statue, or in Sokka's case, complaining about the lack of food. Aang was heading towards Avatar Roku.

Once again, none of them were paying any attention to me at all. I slipped away quietly.

* * *

><p>I walked around the temple for a couple of minutes until I found a run down building that looked familiar. Stepping over rubble, I made my way into it. I walked through a doorway and felt like heaving.<p>

All around me were corpses. Fire Nation soldiers, and in the middle of them all, Monk Gyatso's skeleton.

I ran out of the small building as fast as I could. Once outside, I leaned against the wall, sinking down until I was sitting in the dirt. I sat there for a second.

Aang would be mortified when he found this place. So...what if he didn't find it? Slowly, I removed my glove. I conjured a small flame in the palm of my hand. A fire-gone-wild would hide the evidence...

Suddenly, something small landed in front of me. Frightened, I let my fire go out.

I gasped. The little creature was Momo. That meant Aang wasn't far away. Right on cue, the said Avatar landed on the ground next to Momo. The flying lemur scurried away from him, climbing up me and perching on my shoulder. He was heavier than he looked.

Aang laughed. "Come on over here, that hungry guy won't bother you anymore." Momo climbed higher until he was sitting on my head. I reached up and grabbed him, holding him out to Aang. "Uh, here."

Momo looked up at me with big green eyes. Aang took him from me, allowing Momo to sit on his shoulder. He laughed. "Hey, Emmy. Sokka was going to eat this little guy, but I think I'm going to make him my pet. What are you doing down here?"

I cleared my throat. "I was just exploring."

"Oh yeah? Where were you exploring?"

Looking around, I pointed to a small building farther away from where we were. "Over there. It was actually quite interesting. Let's go explore it some more," I said quickly. He raised an eyebrow. "That's a bathroom."

"..."

Aang looked behind me at the building. "Hey, I know this place. It wasn't as...it wasn't like this in my day, but I'd recognize it anywhere." He started to walk towards it. Thinking fast, I stepped in front of him. "Actually, I'd rather go check out those bathrooms again." I grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him that way. "Come on, let's go."

He just shook my hand off. "No, I know someone who lives here." Aang pushed aside the heavy cloth that was the only thing keeping him away from seeing the dead corpse of his mentor.

"C'mon, Aang, let's go find Katara and Sokka. They're probably looking for us." He kept walking. I rubbed the bridge of my nose and sighed. "Wait."

Aang turned around. "What now? Why don't you want me going in there?" I bit my lip, something I had started making a habit of when I was stressed or nervous. Taking a deep breath, I told Aang that we knew the Fire Nation had been here.

He fell to his knees, hiding his face. Despite myself, my eyes tingled, threatening to release tears. Sokka burst through the cloth. "Did you find my dinner yet-?" He spotted Aang on the floor. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Aang knows about the Fire Nation...and about Gyatso," I murmured, absentmindedly stroking Momo's head. "Oh no. Come on, Aang. Everything will be okay. Let's get out of here." Sokka put his hand on Aang's shoulder.

I inhaled sharply, waiting for Aang's tattoos to start glowing. But they didn't. Aang kept shuddering, until Momo nuzzled his ear with his nose. Aang's shoulders slumped. Another moment passed before Aang stood up. Momo chattered happily and ran a few laps around his shoulders. Aang smiled weakly and patted him on the head.

* * *

><p>Sokka put his hand out to help me climb on top of Appa. Once I was in the saddle, I sat up and gazed at the Southern Air Temple. Next to me, Sokka called down to Katara and Aang.<p>

"Alright, you guys. We're packed and ready to go." There was no response. I leaned over the edge of Appa. "You two ready?"

Katara looked up at me. "Almost." She turned back to Aang who was staring at the temple, frowning. "Aang, I know you're upset, and I know how hard it is to lose the people you care about. I went trough the same thing when I lost my mom. Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka and I. And Emmy." I stiffened at the sound of my name. "We're your family now."

Sokka hopped down next to Katara and Aang. "We're not going to let anything happen to you. I promise." Sokka and Katara embraced Aang. I watched with my chin resting on my crossed arms, which were resting on the edge of the saddle.

Katara reached an arm towards me and gestured for me to come down. "C'mon, you're part of this family too."

I climbed down and cautiously joined their group hug.

* * *

><p>Please, ask questions. They actually make me think more in-depth of the story, which makes for a better story :) Although, I'm saying right now that I won't answer them directly. Everything you have questions about will be explained in future chapters. eventually. But if I accidentally miss something you have questions about, and you didn't tell my you questioned it, I may not answer your unasked question, and you'll have more questions, and I'll be stressed. So, ask away, capisci?<p> 


	5. Book 1 Chapter 5: The Warriors of Kyoshi

"Aang, do you have any idea where we're going?"

"Well, it's near water."

I looked at our surrounding. Nothing _but_ water.

I sighed and leaned back, using my coat as a pillow. I sensed someone looking at me. Opening one eye, I looked up at Katara. "What?"

"How can you not have your coat on? It's pretty chilly up here."

I wasn't about to tell her that I was using firebending to heat my body, so I made up a lie. "It doesn't seem so cold compared to the water at the South Pole." She lowered her gaze, thinking it was a sensitive subject for me. "Oh."

"What about the water at the South Pole?" Of course Aang would ask. He didn't know how I was...found.

"About two months ago, I found her floating in the ocean. She lived in our village ever since. Well, up until you came along, that is," Sokka said through a mouthful of food. Aang looked at me sadly. "I'm sorry to hear that. Why didn't you go back home?"

My breath caught in my throat. There was no way I could go back to where I came from. _Ever._

Katara saw my distress and spoke up for me. "We don't know where she came from. Ever since she woke up in our village, she can't remember anything.

Not true. I can remember going to school, almost all of my birthdays. I can remember my friends, my family. But they were a world away. I was stuck here forever. _But I didn't know how I got here._

Aang stayed quiet for a second, and I was hoping he'd drop the subject_._

"Don't worry Emmy. We'll find your home eventually. I promise. But in the meantime, I know something that will cheer you right up."

* * *

><p>"Elephant Koi riding!" Aang stripped down to his underwear and dove in the water, only to jump right back up shouting "Cold!"<p>

Sokka twirled his finger near his forehead. I snorted. "He's no crazier then you." "At least _I _don't try to ride every wild animal we see!" I just shook my head and watched Aang swim out into deeper water. A giant fish jumped out of the water and Aang grabbed onto its fin. "That's kind of like windsurfing." Katara gave me a funny look. "What's windsurfing?" Oh yeah. That doesn't exist here. "Um, never mind." She didn't respond, too busy waving at Aang.

I didn't remember this island from the cartoon, so I decided to check out the area. Before I could slip away, Sokka started shouting. I looked at him, then at Aang and gasped. There was something_ huge_ in the water behind him, and it was gaining speed.

"Aang!"

While Katara and Sokka waved their arms around like idiots, I was mentally facepalming. _Of course,_ I thought. _This is the episode with the kyoshi warriors._

As I watched, Aang sped away from the Unagi, so fast that he was running on water. On instinct, I pushed Sokka out of the way, just before Aang could run into him. Instead of Sokka, Aang ran right into a tree. With the sound of his breath being knocked out of him; Aang fell theatrically to the ground, his arms and legs sticking straight out.

I glimpsed at the water. The Unagi was sinking away. Behind me, I heard swooshing sounds. Looking back, I saw the rest of the group, even Momo, were bound and blind folded. All around me, Kyoshi warriors, were beginning to form a circle. There was no way I could take all of them on without revealing my, uh, secret. No firebending. That would only make things complicated-um, more so.

So I raised my hands in defeat and got down on my knees.

The women had my hands and feet tied before I could do any thing else.

* * *

><p>"You four have some explaining to do."<p>

With my eyes covered, I couldn't see the man who was interrogating us. I fruitlessly tried again to break free from my restraints. "We're not Fire Nation! Let us go!" I pulled against the rope. This time, Suki's voice answered me. "How do we know you're not spies? Tell us who you are, or we'll throw you in the water with the Unagi."

"Show yourselves, cowards!" At Sokka's demand, all of our blindfolds were removed.

We were surrounded by Kyoshi warriors, along with the elder of Kyoshi Island. "Who are you? Where are the men th-." Before Sokka could reveal how sexist he was, I stamped on his foot as hard as I could. He yelled and wiggled the offended foot, almost hitting a bagged Momo. "What was that for?" he asked, tears in his eyes. I gave him a death glare. He whimpered pathetically and looked down at his boots.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault we came here." Aang looked sincerely at the old man. "I wanted to ride the elephant koi." "Again," the old man pursued Suki's question. "How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies? We've stayed out of the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way."

"Trust me," Katara spoke up. "We're definatly _not_ Fire Nation. Aang's the Avatar."

"Ha! How could _he_ be the Avatar? The last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago." Suki raised her fist as if she could physically defend herself from lies. Aang smiled widely. "That's me!"

"Throw the imposter to the Unagi!" The warriors advanced on us with their fans opened. "Aang, do some airbending, before we're monster food." To my left, Sokka was still on about his foot. Katara was pressing herself closer to the pole we were tied on, trying to avoid the sharp fans. The only way we would get out of here was if I burnt through the ropes, or Aang proved that he really was the Avatar.

The later scenario was obviously the best choice.

No sooner did I ask him to, he airbended himself up, flipping himself over the statue of Avatar Kyoshi, cutting the ropes in the process. He gently glided back down to the ground. The Kyoshi warriors and the villagers that were watching gawked as his feet touched the ground.

"It's true!" the elder said in amazement. "You are the Avatar."

"Yeah! Check this out!" Aang took some marbles from his shirt. He airbended them so that they'd spin in a circle in his palms.

The crowd cheered. To my utter excitement, I saw the Foaming Mouth Guy waving his arms around, screaming like a lunatic and looking like he was having a spaz attack. I beamed. Maybe later I could get his autograph, I joked to myself. The thought made me sad. My best friend and I had watched this episode together when we were younger.

I missed him so much.

* * *

><p>"Alright! Desert for breakfast!" Aang put his arms up in joy and started pawing through the delicacies. Katara picked up a honey cake and examined it before Aang gave her a sugar frosted one instead. I chewed on the inside of my cheek. Aang looked at me and Sokka, who was pouting over in the corner. "Why aren't you eating anything, you guys?"<p>

"I'm not hungry." Sokka had his arms crossed and was glaring at the floor like it had insulted him.

"You two are _always_ hungry."

"He's just upset because a bunch of _girls _kicked his butt yesterday."

"They snuck up on me!"

"Right," Katara smirked. "And then they kicked your butt." Sokka stood up in anger. "Sneak attacks don't count!" He stalked off, muttering under his breath. Before he left, he came back to the table. "I'm not scared of any girls!" He grabbed a bunch of treats. "Who do they think they are, anyways?" He walked away again, his mouth full of food. "Mmmh," he grumbled. "This is tasty."

"Um, okay... Emmy, how come you're not eating?" Aang took a big bite of a cake. I rubbed my arm. "Sweet foods aren't really my thing." I stood up. "I think I'm going to find something that I can eat."

I left.

* * *

><p>I bought a bagful of salted earthnuts from a vendor and walked around the village for a while. Every now and then, I would see Aang with a group of little girls.<p>

While I was fumbling around with my bag, I ran into someone. "Oh jeez, sorr-" I stopped in my tracks. I had run into the foaming mouth guy. "Oh my god, it's you!" My hands went up to my face in excitement as I squealed like a fangirl. He stared at me wide-eyed.

"My name is Emma," I burst out at a fast pace. "What's yours? I really need to stop calling you Foaming Mouth Guy, but I don't know your name, so if you could just tell me?" I might have said that a little fast, but I think he got the jist of it.

He played with his collar while giving me the stink eye. "That _is_ my name. Er, sort of. My name is Guy."

I think my jaw might have hit the floor, "Really? That's so cool! They actually told us your name without really telling us!"

"Who is 'us'? And why are they talking about me?"

I froze. "Uh, never mind, gotta go, bye!" Shielding my face, I walked away quickly, my face turning hot.

* * *

><p>I passed Sokka walking away from a large building, his cheeks bright red, looking humiliated. He didn't even acknowledge me as he walked by, his shoulders slumped. Curious as to why he was so down in the dumps, I walked up to the building and looked through a window. The Kyoshi warriors were fanning themselves and laughing.<p>

I envisioned an egotistic Sokka, trying, and failing, to prove he was stronger than the warriors.

I thought about how I had helped with the fight at the South Pole. I could only help with firebending. What would happen if I was the only one that could save my friends in a fight? I wouldn't be able to do anything without revealing that I was a firebender. If I knew how to fight, I would be able to help and keep my secret at the same time.

I had made up my mind.

Taking a deep breath, I walked into the dojo. Suki looked up at me. "Hello." I held my head high. "Hello. I came here to ask you something." She nodded her head, gesturing that I could continue.

With my right hand open, and my left hand closed in a fist, I put them together in front of me and bowed. "I ask that you train me in the ways of a Kyoshi warrior."

I peeked up at her. She studied me before bowing back. "I would be honored to teach a friend of the Avatar's."

* * *

><p>I fidgeted with the skirt. It was a little tight around my hips, but other than that, the uniform fit perfectly. All morning, Suki drilled me with my fan and taught me katas, or, forms of moves. She taught me how I could work against an opponent who was physically stronger than me, and be able to use their strength against them.<p>

Suki said I was a natural. With each kata she trained me in, I became more aware of the angle in which I was moving, the amount of pressure or strength to use, and how each move flowed into the next. Soon, she said I was ready to train with the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors.

We began with a more complex kata. Suki was at the front of the formation. As she moved, we followed. She glided her fan over her head, and I did the same.

At that moment, Sokka walked in timidly. When Suki saw him, she relaxed her stance and stood up, as did the rest of us.

"Uh, hey, Suki."

She smirked. "Hoping for another dance lesson?"

"No, I, well, let me explain." He rubbed the back of his head uneasily. "Spit it out," Suki chastened, getting impatient. "What do you want?" She was obviously still offended from whatever Sokka had said earlier.

To my surprise, Sokka got down on his knees and bowed his head in respect. "I would be honored if you would teach me." Suki crossed her arms. "Even if I'm a _girl_?" she asked, putting emphasis on the last word. "I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier. I was...wrong."

"We normally don't teach outsiders. Let alone boys." Sokka looked up at her. "Please make an exception. I won't let you down."

Suki smirked again. "Alright. But you have to follow all of our traditions." He looked up in surprise. "Of course," he said. "And I mean, all of them." Next to me, some of the girls looked at each other and giggled.

Sokka began to get up. When he looked wearily back at the girls who giggled, he did a double take when he saw me. "Emmy?"

I smiled and waved.

He turned to Suki. "Whatever happened to not teaching outsiders?" he asked incredulously. Suki smiled. "I guess I'm feeling generous today."

* * *

><p>Sokka looked down at his skirt, perplexed. "Do I really have to wear this? It feels a little...girly." His shoulders slumped. Suki put her hands on her hips. "It's a warrior's Uniform. You should be proud. The silk thread symbolizes the brave blood that flows through our veins. The gold insignia represents the honor of the warrior's heart."<p>

He stood up proud and put his hands on his hips too, just as Aang walked by. "Bravery and honor..."

Aang doubled back. "Hey Sokka. Hi Emmy. Nice dresses." He smiled and zipped away. Sokka slumped over, embarrassed. I laughed and patted his shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, Sokka, you look very pretty." He groaned and hid his face in his hands while Suki and I laughed in spite of him.

* * *

><p>I left Sokka and Suki to train alone, mostly because I didn't want to listen to their flirting.<p>

With Momo hot on my heels, I traveled through the dense forest until I found a small clearing, far, far away from where anyone would be wandering around for a late afternoon stroll.

I had traded my heavy Kyoshi warrior uniform for the clothes I usually wore underneath my fur coat, a light blue tunic and a darker skirt with a purple sash tied around my waist. I also had on a skin-tight turtleneck and leggings, both purple, because it was still a bit cold out.

As paranoid as I was, I looked around the clearing before I started practicing.

Taking a deep breath, I imagined the chi flowing in my body being directed to my hands. I could feel it beginning to pool at my wrists. I opened my eyes and was pleased to see a bracelet of fire. I experimented and gave it a little more juice.

The fire got bigger, as well as hotter.

As the fire kept getting bigger, it reminded me of a later episode. The one where Zuko and Aang went to the Sun Warriors...I kept making the fire bigger, bending it off my wrist, and into my hands. The bracelet expanded until it was a circle larger than my head.

I raised it above my head, bending the ring of fire to spin in place repeatedly, like a wheel. I wiped a drop of perspiration off of my forehead with the crook of my elbow, but kept bending.

When Momo jumped off my shoulder through the hoop, an idea struck me.

Grinning ear to ear, I balanced the spinning flames on one hand and made a ball of fire with the other. If there was more than one firebender, this could it could be a game like basketball.

My chuckle was drowned out by the screech of a large animal. _The Unagi!_

Bending away the fire, I grabbed Momo and ran for the water.

* * *

><p>By the time I made it to the shore, a large metal ship was docking, the Unagi no where in sight.<p>

As I watched, Zuko came out of the ship riding an armored rhino, followed by several other soldiers. Hiding amongst the trees, I ran back to the village to warn them.

I got to the village before the soldiers did. A few of the villagers peered at me as I clutched a stitch in my side, gasping for air. "Fire Navy! On the shore. They're coming to the village!" I shouted, as soon as I could. My proclamation sent the villagers in a frenzy, collecting their children and locking their doors. The elder ran off to the Kyoshi Warrior's dojo.

Meanwhile, I ran after a rhino with two soldiers on it. Taking my fans from my sash, I flipped them open and stalked towards the soldiers, unnoticed. They rounded a corner, heading towards houses to start their search for the Avatar.

Nobody was around except for me and the unaware soldiers.

I sent a spark at the rhino's behind, frightening it. The rhino reared on its hind legs, causing the men that were riding it to tumble off, before it ran into the woods.

Now the men knew I was there. They both took offensive stances, sizing me up. Before they could start firebending, I swung a fan and hit one of them in a tender spot on the shoulder, badly bruising, or possibly breaking it. He hissed in pain and clutched it with the other hand. The other one sent a jet of fire at me.

Redirecting it with my fan, I made the fire swing around and come back at him. The fire clung to his hands on my will. He tried to shake it off, but I kept the fire bended onto his hands. Eventually, he screamed in pain and fell to the ground, trying to soothe the burn in the snow.

I figured that was enough.

Before I left to go help the other warriors, I noticed his hands were raw, a bright, unnatural red. He'd be scared forever. I swallowed my self-disgust and fled.

"Emmy!" Aang called for me from Appa's back. Sokka and Katara were there also. C'mon, we have to go!" I looked from them to the destruction around us. Biting my lip, and growling in frustration, I jumped up reluctantly into the saddle.

As we flew away, I leaned over the edge of the saddle, discreetly trying to bend away the flames in the village. Exhausted from practice and fighting, my bending wasn't as good as it usually was. The fire was still there, burning the houses.

"I know it's hard," Katara tried to console Aang. "Zuko would have destroyed the whole place if we stayed. They're going to be okay, Aang." From behind, I saw Aang's shoulders stiffen. I knew what happened next.

"What are you doing?" As Aang jumped off of Appa and into the water below, I rushed forward and took the reins. Katara and Sokka gapped at the water, thinking Aang had gone crazy.

A moment later, Aang burst upwards, holding the Unagi's barbels like reins. Getting a steady grip on its head, Aang pulled back on the barbels, forcing the Unagi to spray water onto Kyoshi Island, putting out the rest of the flames and soaking an already angry Fire Prince.

As he flipped off the giant eel's back, I steered Appa down so that he landed with a thud on Appa's saddle next to a shocked Katara. "I know, I know," he said, once he had recovered from the landing. "That was stupid and dangerous." I wasn't looking at them, but I heard Katara say "It was". She sounded like she was smiling. I heard her hug Aang, eliciting a happy gasp from him.

Sokka mumbled something about public displays of affection.

Up on Appa's head, I felt a mixture of pride for holding my own in a battle, and self-loathing for injuring that man with my bending. _I guess the two will go hand in hand for now, _I thought, as I steered us away from Kyoshi Island.

* * *

><p>*(AN)/* AANNDD Done! :-) Sorry I couldn't post it earlier. You know, lazyness and all that. Merry Belated Christmas! And Happy New Year! (And happy Hanukkah, to those who celebrate it!)


	6. Book 1 Chapter 6: the King of Omashu

I groaned as we walked up a hill.

Katara shot me a look.

I was still annoyed at her for getting me wet while she practiced waterbending this morning, so I groaned again, only louder this time.

She grit her teeth and threw her hands into the air. "Will you knock it off?"

With a pointed look at her, I rubbed my stomach and moaned. "I'm so hungry. When are we going to have lunch?"

Katara looked like she was ready to explode, but before he could, Aang spoke up. He stood at the top of the hill, spreading his arms wide. "The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!"

Katara stuck her tongue out at me and walked away.

The snow beneath my feet hissed as my body temperature raised a few degrees with my temper.

Momo looked at the melted snow, then at me with big green eyes. I put a finger to my lips and looked over the hill.

Sokka and Katara stared wide-eyed at the grand city.

I picked some dirt from underneath my fingernails. The Air Temple was natural and beautiful. This was all made of stone, and I could smell something sour coming from the city from here.

* * *

><p>The walls closed behind us as we stepped through into Omashu. Somehow, I had convinced the guards that my "wheat-colored" hair was a fashion statement. Apparently, blonde wasn't a natural color in this universe.<p>

I craned my neck to look up at the top of the city.

Sokka, Katara and Aang ran off to go mail system sliding.

We had planned to meet up at this spot in an hour, but I knew that that wasn't going to happen.

I wandered for a few minutes before I came across two burly men carrying a crate. They seemed to be struggling with it.

My curiosity taking the best of me, I wandered over in their direction.

"-Can't believe we found these just walking around." I heard one say as I got in hearing distance.

"Yeah," said the other. "They're supposed to be indigenous to the Fire Nation."

I realized that there were _animals_ in the crate.

"Excuse me," I asked the men. "What's in that box?"

They looked at each other. "Just some cubs we found outside the city walls."

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. What kind of cubs?"

The younger man, he seemed a few years older than me, winked at me. "They're tigerdillos. Caught 'em myself." He puffed out his chest proudly.

I bit my lip. I had always wanted to know what a tigerdillo looked like.

"Can I see them?"

The younger one looked at the older one with a questioning look on his face. The older one rolled his eyes. "I dunno. I don't want them getting away..."

I put on my best puppy dog face and stepped closer to the younger one. "Pleeaasse?" I drawled out. "I've _always_ wanted to seem one. I bet they're _so_ cute."

The man's turned red. "A-alright." He looked at his companion, pleadingly.

The older one huffed. "Fine. But just a peek."

I smiled widely. "Thank you _so_ much."

He smiled back at me and pried the lid off.

When I saw them, I gasped.

I couldn't help but get on my knees, stick my hands in the crate, and pull out one of them.

It looked just like a tiger cub, except for the hard, tan bands along its spine and up its neck. Instead of a fluffy tail like regular tigers, tigerdillo tails were more like armadillos. It was still as long as a tiger's tail, though.

I traced the black lines on her face.

The tigerdillo leaned its orange head into my palm and started chuffing.

As I held her close, I could feel the heat radiating off her body.

She opened her mouth wide and yawned, her tongue sticking out. Before she could close it, a spark flew out of her mouth.

The men, who were looking down at me with uneasy expressions, started.

I hummed. It figured that they'd be able to breathe fire.

"What do you plan on doing with all these cubs?" There were four in the box, not counting the one I was still clutching to my chest.

The man who was trying to impress me earlier spoke up. "We were going to sell them to a circus-"

In an instant, I flushed with anger and blew up.

"What? A _circus_? Do you have any idea how they _treat_ animals? These cubs wouldn't stand a chance!" Putting the cub in the box, I stood up, my hands balled into fists.

He backed up slowly with his hands up by his face.

"How could you scumbags even _think_ about that?"

The bigger man stepped between me and the other. "Don't blame us. Only a firebender would be able to handle those things when they get older and start breathing fire. And we couldn't let them just run around outside, where kids play."

My shoulders relaxed. I rubbed my forehead and sighed in annoyance, trying to cover my embarrassment.

"Y-you're right. I'm sorry for yelling."

Below, in the box, the tigerdillo I was holding put its front paws on the edge of the crate; she looked up at me with amber eyes.

I bit my lip again. I could save one of them.

"How much do you want for her?"

I walked down the street, my new tigerdillo cub cradled in my arms and my pocket considerably lighter.

As I walked, I could feel her tiny body getting colder. I looked down in alarm and saw that her eyes were drooping closed.

A few seconds passed and she was calmly asleep.

I stroked her head and smiled.

The cabbage merchant was on a street corner, rubbing his face against one of his cabbages. I walked over next to him.

"So," I started. "Cabbages."

He looked at me, and then up above him in shock.

I backed away quickly as a mail carrier with three passengers landed on top of the cart.

"My cabbages!"

"Hey, you guys," I said as they started to stand up. "Meet Re."

She poked her head up from my arms, now awake, and mewed.

Sokka sat on his rear, rubbing his head. "Hi Re," he deadpanned.

"Whoa!" Aang said in amazement. "A tigerdillo!"

He tickled Re under her chin, causing her to sneeze a spark into Aang's wig. Patting it down, Aang laughed.

His laugh soon died as we were surrounded by Earth Kingdom soldiers.

He held up a cabbage meekly. "Want some?"

* * *

><p>The guards led us to the throne room.<p>

Before they let me pass, a guard put his hand out.

"What?"

He looked at Re pointedly.

From the room, King Bumi's voice called to the guard. "Let her in."

I stuck my tongue out at the guard and followed the other three.

As we all lined up, King Bumi looked closely at Aang. I acted like I didn't see anything and kept stroking Re's head.

The guards made Katara, Aang and Sokka get on their knees.

"Your Majesty. These juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages."

"Off with their heads!" yelled the Cabbage Merchant. "One for each head of cabbage!"

"Silence." The guard put a hand to his ranting. "Only the King can pass down judgment. What is your judgment, sire?"

Bumi studied us.

"What did the yellow-headed one do?"

The guard looked at me and furrowed his brow.

"Nothing, your Majesty. She just came along."

"You look familiar, yellow-headed one. Do I know you?"

I shook my head.

"What's your name?"

Before I could answer, he held up a hand. "No, wait. Let me guess it."

He tapped his chin in thought. "Is it...Tina?"

"Um, no."

"How 'bout Juju?"

I shook my head again.

The guard spoke up before Bumi could guess another name.

"Sire, these prisoners need judgment."

"Very well. Throw them-"

I heard a collective gasp from the three of my friends.

"-A feast."

Almost everybody in the room except for the king and I made noises of confusion.

* * *

><p>The four of us sat down at a table that was covered with every Earth Kingdom dish imaginable.<p>

In front of me was a bowl of earthnuts.

When I was sure that nobody was looking, I took it and dumped it into a bag tied around my waist.

King Bumi put his hands on Sokka and Katara's chair.

"The people in my city have grown fat from too many feasts. So I hope you like your chicken with no skin."

Bumi picked up Aang's chicken leg and tried to feed it to him.

Aang pushed it away. "Thanks, but I don't eat meat."

Bumi tried Sokka next.

"How about you? I bet you like meat." He stuffed the leg into Sokka's mouth, causing Sokka to make a sound of protest before it turned into delight and he started to eat it.

Katara whispered something about the king being crazy, but I wasn't completely listening.

Re was trying to get to the giant pig-like thing in the middle of the table. Before she could jump out of my lap, I gave her my chicken leg.

She took it happily and started gnawing on it.

At the head of the table, Bumi sat down and started talking to Aang.

"Tell me, young bald one. Where are you from?"

"I'm from...Kangaroo Island."

"Kangaroo Island, eh? I hear that place is really hoppin'!"

One of the guards coughed. I swear I heard crickets.

A moment or two passed before Sokka started laughing.

We looked at him.

"Hahaha...what? It was pretty...funny."

Bumi yawned.

"All these good jokes are making me tired." He turned away from us. "Guess it's time to hit the hay."

Out of his sleeve, he pulled a chicken leg and threw it at Aang.

Before Aang could catch it, Re jumped out from my lap and caught it between her teeth.

She landed, padded over to me, and sat down at my feet, eating it.

I looked from her, to Aang, and then to Bumi, who just stood there.

Aang blinked. "Did you just throw chicken at me?"

Bumi looked at Aang. "No," he said slowly. "It slipped out of my hand."

Sokka looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Right," he drawled. "Slippery chicken." He cleared his throat. "Well, thanks for the diner. The chicken was a bit dry, but it tasted just fine. It was very nice to meet you all, but we really have to leave, so-"

Bumi cut him off. "Oh, I don't think you're going anywhere. You see, I know you're the Avatar, Aang."

The other three gasped.

Tomorrow, you're going to face three deadly challenges. But for now, the guards will show you to your chamber."

The guard closest to him started talking with the king about which room we'd be staying in.

* * *

><p>I was awoken to a strange sound.<p>

Two Omashu guards had restrained a struggling Katara and Sokka. Aang was still sound asleep.

Another guard came my way, ready to fight.

I grabbed Re. "No need for that. I'll come quietly."

It's not like they were going to hurt us. They were going to encase us in _rock candy_. That wasn't worth getting bruised over. If anything, it was completely worth being trapped.

My stomach growled. I hadn't eaten anything last night.

While the guards walked us down a hallway, I pulled some earthnuts from my pouch. Before I started eating, I offered some to the guards.

Katara and Sokka, both of whom were being held onto tightly by said guards looked at me wide eyed.

"You're as crazy as that king!" Sokka nearly shouted. "We're being kidnapped to who knows where, and you're just walking along calmly, offering them food?"

I swallowed before I spoke. "Yup." I gave the guard who was supposed to be handling me a handful of nuts.

He thanked me and ate them.

* * *

><p>As we walked, I started a conversation with the guard, whose name, I discovered, was Peng.<p>

Apparently, Peng's older brother was an earthbender fighting in the war. His father was sickly, so he had to stay in Omashu and take care of him. I felt sorry for Peng, who only looked a few years older than me.

I offered to let him hold Re.

Slightly behind me, Katara and Sokka were still trying to get away from their guards.

Sokka's guard started complaining to Peng.

"How come you got the easy one?" Peng shrugged and patted Re's ear.

Eventually, Katara almost escaped. She got five feet before Peng had to earthbend a wall, blocking her path.

After that, Katara's guard earthbent rocky handcuffs around her wrists.

I sighed.

"You know, you guys, if you just cooperated, they would let you walk on your own."

Sokka wriggled around, still not able to get away. "How do we know they're not going to torture us or something?"

I looked at Peng, who shook his head.

"See Sokka? You're just being paranoid."

He groaned in frustration.

We finally stopped in front of a rock wall.

Reluctantly, Peng gave Re back to me. She mewed in objection and tried to go back over to him.

"I'm sorry," he said, suddenly serious and formal. "I'm going to have to restrain you now."

I scratched my nose with the hand that wasn't supporting Re. "Alright."

Peng held my free hand out while he held onto my shoulder. His grip was firm, but gentle.

As we stood there, Sokka and Katara still trying to escape, the wall that was in front of us was bent away, revealing King Bumi being confronted by Aang.

He turned away from the crazy king and looked on in shock as Peng and the other two men put jennamite rings on our index fingers.

Katara gave me a deadly glare. "Yeah, they're not going to hurt us, Emmy. We just have to _cooperate."_

I rubbed the ring, which had already attached to my finger, and glanced at a slightly ashamed looking Peng.

"Do you not trust Aang's abilities? He'll complete the King's tasks and we'll be able to leave."

Katara averted her glare to the floor while Sokka freaked out.

"It's already started to creep!"

"Sokka! Chill out. Do you know what jennamite is?"

"The crazy king said it was creeping crystal! It's going to kill us all!"

I broke a piece off of the large lump that was beginning to cover my hand and shoved it in his mouth. I kept my hand there so he couldn't spit it out.

"It's rock candy, genius."

His eyes got wide and he started chewing on it, making sounds of delight.

I laughed to myself and allowed Peng to escort me to the location of Aang's first challenge.

* * *

><p>Aang got through the first two tasks easily enough.<p>

The entire time, I made light conversation with Peng while I broke pieces off of the jennamite and shared it with him.

Katara refused to eat any off it, and Sokka was too busy worrying about Aang to pay any attention to it.

Both of them gave me betrayed looks when they weren't watching Aang. Each time they did this, I smiled and told them to trust Aang's ability as the Avatar, then kept talking with Peng.

* * *

><p>It was finally time for Aang's third challenge. Sokka and Katara were encased head to two in the creeping crystal while only my arm was covered.<p>

By the time we made our way to the battle arena, I had learned that Peng never really wanted to work with the government. He just wanted to work with his father at his pottery shop. I also found out that Peng had two nieces that he looked after when his brother's wife couldn't.

It was at that point in our conversation that he was called away by a senior guard to handle a matter somewhere in the city.

We said our goodbyes, and then I turned my attention to Aang's challenge.

With a glance at Sokka and Katara, I was distracted by the jennamite that was beginning to cover their faces.

I broke of the crystals that were obscuring their vision and held them out, offering the pieces to them.

Katara turned her head disdainfully. Sokka, on the other hand, sighed and held his mouth open to receive the rock candy.

With my attention now fully on Aang, I watched him get whacked by a wave of rock.

Bumi then punched the ground, causing a tremor to attack Aang. Aang jumped up and pushed off of the wall towards his glider.

"How are you going to get me from way over there?" taunted the king.

Aang started running towards him at full speed until Bumi earthbended the ground he was running on into quicksand. Bumi earthbended up two boulders, having them go to crush Aang.

At the last second, Aang airbended himself out of the sand and up past the rocks. With a swing of his glider, Aang sent Bumi and his rock flying against the wall.

Quickly recovering, he bent a rock to come at Aang from behind.

I sneezed from the dust in the air.

From my arm, Re looked up at me sleepily and batted my face with her paw. I giggled.

She was cuddled in my arm with her belly facing upwards, so I rubbed it, causing her to start chuffing again.

I was alarmed when the ground started shaking.

Looking up from Re, I saw the entire side of the wall next to us was gone.

All around us, the wind started blowing.

In the arena, Aang was creating a tornado by running in a circle.

Bumi threw the hunk of wall at him, causing it to circle around the tornado and come back at him. Using earthbending, Bumi split the wall so that it went to either side of him.

As Aang jumped out of the cloud of dust, a portion from the wall was levitated over both Bumi and Aang's head.

Unheard words were said and then the king tossed the rock away as if it was a pebble.

I had to double take as Bumi leaned back and fell through the ground, suddenly appearing next to us.

Aang airbended himself up to our ledge.

"You passed all my tests. Now you must answer a question."

"That's not fair!" Aang shouted, outraged. "You said you would release my friends if I finish my tests!"

I took a bite of my jennamite as it reached my shoulder.

"Oh, but what's the point of tests if you don't learn anything?" Bumi asked cryptically.

Next to me, Sokka complained. "Oh, come on!"

"Answer this one question, and I'll set your friends free." He spotted my lack of creeping crystal. "Well, the ones that need it, anyways."

He rubbed his nose. "What is my name?"

Aang's jaw dropped in disbelief as Bumi walked away.

"How am I supposed to know his name?" Aang asked us.

I shrugged.

"Think about the challenges," Katara blurted. "Maybe it's some kind of riddle."

Sokka contemplated for a moment.

"I got it!"

Aang and Katara looked at him hopefully. "Yeah?"

"He's an earthbender, right...? Rocky!"

We stared at him.

"You know, because of all the rocks."

Katara cleared her throat. "We're going to keep trying, but _that_ is a good back up."

"Okay," Aang said. "Back to the challenges. I got a key from a waterfall. I saved his pet. And I had a duel."

The crystal creeped up to Katara's chin. "And what did you learn?"

Aang thought about that. "Well, everything was different then I expected."

"And?" The crystal got higher.

"Well, they weren't straight forward. To solve each test, I had to think differently then I usually would," His face lit up in understanding. "I know his name," he smiled.

"It's about time!" I took another bite from the crystal on my shoulder.

Aang looked at me funny.

"Emmy, have you been eating that rock?"

I broke off a piece and handed it to him. "It's rock candy. Try some, it's delicious."

* * *

><p>After Aang released Bumi from a hug, Bumi earthbended the crystals off of Sokka and Katara. I, on the other hand, had already broken mine off and put the pieces in my bag with the rest of the earthnuts.<p>

I stood in the corner with Re as Bumi explained to Aang his reason for the challenges.

"...And it looks like you're in good hands. You'll need your friends to defeat the Fire Nation. And you'll need Momo too."

"Thank you for your wisdom. But before we leave, I have a challenge for you."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"Mail system sledding."

Bumi snorted when he laughed. "Challenge accepted!

When the two of them finished talking, Bumi came over to me.

"You, young lady, have a very useful talent of keeping your head while distressed. I was very impressed with the way you handled the situation you were in."

I bowed the way I had bowed to Suki on Kyoshi Island, with my left hand open and my right hand in a fist, touching the palm of my left hand.

"Thanks."

He bowed his head in acknowledgement, and then scratched his chin.

"I still haven't guessed your name. Can you give me a hint?"

I laughed threw my nose.

"It starts with an 'E'."

He snapped his fingers together. "Evergreen!"

At that, I laughed. "Try 'Emma'."

He scrunched up his eyes and crossed his arms. "What kind of weird name is Emma?"

Over with Aang and Sokka, Katara giggled.

* * *

><p>"So, uh, Katara. Sokka. Am I still crazy?"<p>

Katara playfully shoved me.

"Just shut up and eat your rock candy."

Sokka laughed as we heard Bumi and Aang crash their mail cart into the Cabbage Merchant's cabbages.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: *Hypothetically wipes sweat from forehead* That was sort of intense. i was waiting for at least one person to actually do something, like favorite the story, or review, or subscribe. Finally someone did so (though, not very many reviews, which makes me sad :), so I'm posting this chapter :) Review, alert, or subscribe for the next chappie. The first person who reviews gets a whole bagful of earthnuts!


	7. Book 1 Chapter 7: Haru

I watched the campfire.

In my head, I imagined that I saw the faces of my friends from school. I thought about Lana, how she was always moving and talking, never sitting still for more than a minute. I missed her consistent chatter, always cheering me up. I thought about Sam. My best friend since third grade. He was such a nerd, always playing video games and fidgeting with his cameras. He had always wanted to become a professional photographer. There wasn't anything in my life that went on without him knowing about it.

Except for this.

I crossed my arms on my knees and buried my face in them. I'd never see him again.

Right now, as I firebended the campfire unnoticeably bigger by slowly exhaling, I thought about my funeral. Would he be there?

Of course he would. He had been my best friend for eight years. Why wouldn't he be there? I wondered if he would ever flip the channel and land on this TV show, and think about us watching it when we were ten.

I hoped he didn't. I hoped he never had to think about me again. I was gone from that life. I wanted everyone to forget about me, like I had never existed. I was never going back there, and God, I hoped they weren't coming here.

Sokka returned from his excavation for food, Re happily bounding after him. He dropped a bag on the ground, and Aang happily started picking through it. Pulling out a dead rat, he started and dropped it back, shuddering.

"I can't eat that," he complained. "I'm a vegetarian."

Sokka pulled some nuts out from his pocket and dropped them into Aang's open hands. Aang looked disappointed.

"I'm tired of nuts." I started to pull some candy from my pouch. "And I don't want any more Jennamite, either!" I pulled some out anyways and started nibbling on it. Re jumped up on my lap and started eating one of the rats she had caught.

Over near the roots of a giant tree, I knew Katara had been watching me. She walked over to the fire and started roasting one of the rats. Turning to me, she opened her mouth like she was going to say something. I pretended I didn't notice, and stood up, Re in my arms.

Sokka began eating his newly cooked rat. "Hey," he said through a mouthful of food. "Not that I don't mind it, but _how_ did you find a Fire Nation animal in Omashu, an _Earth Kingdom_ City?"

I scratched her chin lovingly. "I told you. I bought _her_, off some men who were going to sell a litter of cubs to a Fire Nation circus."

"Alright. And why Re? And what's with her name, anyways?"

Looking down into her amber eyes, I blushed. For the last season of ATLA, I sort of had a fangirl crush on Zuko, and her eyes were close to the same color as his. I decided to only answered one of his questions.

"When I picked her up, she was warm. Re means heat, doesn't it? She's a Fire Nation animal, so she might as well have a Fire Nation name."

Sokka grumbled. "There's a little bit too much Fire Nation in this group, for my taste. As in, there's Fire Nation at all."

_You have no idea._

Aang opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a loud boom, startling us. Re's ears perked in the direction it was coming from as another boom sounded. "It's coming from over there," Aang shouted.

Aang and Katara ran after the loud noise. Sharing an exasperated look with Sokka, we walked after them.

When Sokka and I caught up to them, we hid behind a large fallen tree, watching an earthbender.

He had long brown hair with some of it pulled into a knot on top of his head. His bangs hung in his face. He had green eyes. Aside from the long hair, he looked so...familiar...

"Sam?"

The earthbender looked up at me with fear in his eyes, and then ran off. I zoned out for a minute or two.

"Who's Sam?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind. C'mon, Emmy, we're following the earthbender."

I shook my head and allowed myself to be dragged along by Sokka.

* * *

><p>We walked around the village, looking for a suitable dinner.<p>

That's when I spotted the earthbender we had seen. It was only looking at him from a distance that I realized he was Haru. Thoroughly embarrassed for mistaking him for Sam, I shielded my face and pretended to examine some fruits.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Haru enter a building. Katara saw it too.

"Hey." She followed him.

I bit back a groan as Sokka and Aang went after her.

Katara opened the door and started speaking to him. As we walked through the doorway, Haru looked like a cornered animal. I lowered my gaze to the floor.

"We saw you earthbending,"

Haru's mother gasped, and rushed with a speed I wouldn't guess she had to close the door and the shades.

"They saw you doing _what_?" she asked, horrified. Haru looked panicky. "They're crazy, mom. I mean, look at how they're dressed!" he gestured to us.

Aang, Sokka and Katara fidgeted with their clothes, self conscious. I rolled my eyes.

Haru's mother wasn't convinced. "You know how dangerous that is! You know what would happen if _they _caught you earthbending!" At that moment, there was a pounding at the door.

"Open up!" a gruff voice bellowed.

Sokka opened the shades. "Fire Nation! Act natural."

When Haru's mother opened the door, Haru and Sokka were posed like they were talking. Katara had a mouthful of berries, and Aang was leaning stiffly against a water barrel. I was against the wall picking dirt from under my nails, snickering at how foolish they looked. The top of the barrel gave out and Aang fell, the lid coming around and smacking him in the head in the process.

"What do you want?" Haru's mother questioned, "I already paid you this week."

"The tax just doubled." The Fire Nation soldier bended a ball of flames into his hands. "We wouldn't want an accident, now would we? Fire. It's sometimes so hard to control."

Raising an eyebrow, I flexed my hand. The soldier flinched back as his flames grew two times in size. Closing my hand harshly into a fist, the fire disappeared. Everyone stood shocked, especially the soldier.

The soldier tried repeatedly to conjure another fire. Each time, I made it go away. Finally, he cleared his throat. "That will be all." He hastily left.

"You know," Sokka muttered, "With all the firebending I've seen. I'm not all that impressed." I hid a smile.

* * *

><p>With the Fire Nation soldier gone, everybody relaxed.<p>

"How long has the Fire Nation been here?" Aang questioned. The woman's shoulders slumped. "Five years. Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships."

"They're thugs. They steal from us." Haru crossed his arms. "And everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about it."

"Quite Haru! Don't talk like that," his mother chastened.

"Haru's an earthbender," Katara exclaimed. "He can help."

"Earthbending is _forbidden._ It's caused nothing but misery for this village. He must never use his abilities."

"How can you say that? Haru has a gift! Asking him not to earthbend is like asking me not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are."

The older woman shook her head sadly. "You don't understand."

"I understand Haru can help you fight back. What more could the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?"

"They could take Haru away! Like they took his father." I watched as Haru tensed up and turned away from us. Biting my lip, I looked away.

* * *

><p>Haru escorted us to a barn. "My mom said you can sleep here for the night, but you should leave in the morning."<p>

Ever happy, Aang smiled. "Thanks! I'll make sure Appa doesn't eat all your hay."

At the sound of his name, Appa stopped mid-chew and looked at us for a split second before turning away and continuing to eat.

As Haru started to leave, I followed him. "I'm sorry about calling you Sam, earlier," I said hesitantly.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "That's okay. At the time, I didn't care what you called me. I was too afraid of getting arrested."

We walked in silence for a moment.

"Who's Sam?" he asked curiously.

I looked away, fighting back tears. Noticing my distress, he apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No," I said, shoving it off. "It's fine. He used to be one of my friends."

"Used to?"

I bit down on my lip. Hard.

Remembering that I had a fake back story, I worked that into it. "I don't remember anything about my life before a few months ago. I think I knew a guy named Sam who looked a lot like you."

"So you don't remember anything?"

"Bits and pieces of it are coming back to me. But other then that, I'm in the dark."

"That must be horrible."

I brushed a few loose strands of hair out of my face. "Not as bad as loosing your father to the Fire Nation."

It was his turn to look away in sadness. "My father...he was very courageous. When the Fire Nation invaded, he and the other earthbenders were outnumbered ten to one. But they fought back anyways."

"He sounds like a great man," I mumbled. Haru nodded his head.

"It's funny. The way your friend was talking back in the store? It reminded me of him."

I laughed once. "She's like that sometimes. But most of the time, she's a real pain in the butt." He laughed with me.

Catching his eye, I looked away at the sunset, a small smile on my lips.

* * *

><p>We walked down a worn path.<p>

The slope we were walking on was steep, and when I tripped over a loose rock, I had no chance of steadying myself. I tumbled down into the dust.

In an instant, Haru was kneeling by my side. "Emmy! Are you okay?"

I clenched my teeth. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I tried to push myself up, but grunted in pain when I put pressure on my left wrist. He took it between his hands, gently prodding it. When he pressed on a certain spot, and I flinched away, he nodded. "You've got a sprained wrist."

Taking me by the forearms, he helped me stand up. With my good hand, I wiped off some dust from my skirt.

He smiled hesitantly. "My mom has some bandages and numbing medicine for the pain. Come on, let's go see her."

I was about to follow before I remembered how things played out in the actual episode. Katara and Haru went for a walk, they exchanged their sad stories, and...? Behind us, an entrance to the mines collapsed, followed by an old man calling out for help.

"The mines!" Haru started running towards the old man. Kicking myself for not remembering that part sooner, I ran after him.

* * *

><p>An hour later, I was back in the barn, my wrist bandaged up.<p>

Katara examined my hand and fussed over it like my mom would have. What happened? Is it broken? Will you be able to travel? Are you okay? Where were you?

I didn't answer any of her questions.

Instead, I walked over to where Re was, a pile of hay, and plopped down, exhausted. Sokka grinned devilishly. "She was with _Haru_," he cooed, not even caring about my injury. He started making kissy faces. I grimaced, my face beet red.

"We were just walking," I managed to sputter out. Sokka, not convinced, giggled like a little girl. "Emmy and Haru sitting in a tree..."

He didn't get to continue due to Katara whacking him in the back of the head with one of the nuts he had gathered earlier.

She joined me on the floor. "Emmy. What happened to your wrist?" I sighed and gave up. "Haru and I were walking downhill and I tripped over a rock. Happy?"

Katara looked pacified. "I hope you're okay."

"Yeah. I am."

She smiled and went over to crawl in her sleeping bag next to Aang, who was already asleep.

* * *

><p>I stayed up until I heard the sounds of Firebenders taking Haru away.<p>

No one but me was awake. Katara, Sokka, Re and Aang were all warm and comfortable, sleeping, like there wasn't anything going on.

I left them a note, telling them where I had gone. There was no time to wake them.

* * *

><p>I saw the ship that was taking Haru and the other captured earthbenders to the prison.<p>

Right then, they were loading them onto the ship. I watched heartbroken as Haru was shoved up into the metal machine.

Biting my lip the entire time, I sneaked my way onto the Fire Navy ship. By following some female guards, I found the woman's dressing room.

I changed into a soldier's uniform. Leaving my tunic and skirt in a garbage bin, I went forth to look for Haru.

"Hey, you!"

I swore under my breath before I turned around.

"Yes?"

I was addressing a middle aged man with a large beard and mustache combo.

The man looked at me and smirked when my overly-large helmet fell over my eyes. I quickly readjusted it. "What's your name, soldier?"

"M-my name?"

"Yes. Are you deaf?"

"No. No, sir. It's uh...Re."

"Re?"

"Yes sir."

He studied me as my helmet fell down again.

He shook his head. "Who issued you that uniform?"

I was sweating bullets. "I, er, don't remember their name, sir."

The man 'hmphed' and started walking away. He didn't get very far before he looked over his shoulder. "Aren't you coming?"

"Sir?"

"Let's go get you a uniform that fits."

Helpless to do anything else, I followed him down a long hallway and into a sweltering room. "Azuba, I'm going to need a medium firebender's uniform. Female."

I stiffened.

"How did you know I was a firebender? Sir?"

Azuba, the large woman who was apparently in charge of uniforms, rolled her eyes. "They get younger and less intelligent with every recruiting, don't they, Dazhong?"

"This one obviously didn't have the best mentor, that's for sure." The two of them laughed. I hated that they were talking like I wasn't there. I grit my teeth and bore through it.

When they were done making fun of me, Dazhong answered my question.

"Firebenders and non-firebenders have different uniforms. It was obvious from the moment I saw you in it. You would know that if you paid attention during class." he paused. "Unless..." setting his hand on fire, he pointed it at me. "Unless you aren't from the Fire Nation."

Thinking he was joking around, I laughed nervously. "Ha! Good one. Me not being Fire Nation. That's ridiculous..." I trailed off when he didn't move his hand.

I exhaled heavily and set my own uninjured hand on fire. "Proof enough?"

Azuba and Dazhong both relaxed. Azuba snickered something about paranoid old men.

"Come on," Dazhong said, obviously embarrassed. "Stop fooling around and go get changed."

* * *

><p>The entire ride to the prison, I was stationed on guard duty. This was good for me, because I would be able to look for Haru without looking suspicious myself. We were almost there when Dazhong had me assigned to a prisoner to escort into the prison.<p>

"Here," he said, dragging someone over to me. "I think you can handle this one, pipsqueak."

It was Haru. And he was looking at me with such hatred that I couldn't help but flinch.

"Haru," I whispered frantically. "It's me. Emmy."

His eyes widened. "Emmy? How did you get here?"

No one was around. "It's my fault you're here. I'm going to get you out."

"Where are the others?"

"I didn't have time to wake them up. I left them a note. Hopefully, they get it and come in time."

"That was a stupid thing to do."

I looked down in chagrin.

Taking me completely by surprise, he hugged me. "Thank you."

I returned the hug briefly.

From the main deck, I heard a whistle that meant it was time to bring the prisoners above. I gently, but firmly took him by scruff of the neck and his upper arm.

He looked at me, shocked.

"Act like you hate me," I whispered. "Just play along."

* * *

><p>The prisoners were lined up, guards everywhere. I stood as close to Haru as I could.<p>

A man with a fu manchu and a small beard walked dramatically out of the shadows and started speaking to the earthbenders. He went on about how the benders were his humble guests, and how he was their generous host.

The entire time, Haru was shaking with anger. I willed that he keep his mouth shut.

"See that you respect me and my prison, and we'll get along _famously_." He smirked down at Haru.

When the warden turned his back on them, Haru lunged for his throat.

"Hey!" Using the crescent block that Suki taught me, I redirected Haru's outstretched arms and pinned them behind his back. "What are you doing?" I whispered in his ear frantically. "You don't stand a chance with all these guards!"

The warden turned around and saw him being subdued by me.

With an oily grin, he stepped over to Haru and bent down until he was eye level with him.

"It's better to give up hope now. If you fight it, you will not survive." He stood up straight and strutted away. "Good job, soldier," he said to me over his shoulder.

* * *

><p>The warden's hissed words echoed in my ears as I led Haru, arms still being held against his back, to the yard where the other earthbenders were.<p>

_If you fight it, you will not survive._

_Give up hope...  
><em>I shuddered.

I was _ashamed _to be a firebender, for the first time since I found out I was one. I understood how the people of the other nations could hate the Fire Nation with so much passion.

With the other prisoners, and the two other guards, we walked through a passage. As we entered the prison yard, three thick, metal doors closed behind us. Immediately, Haru started scanning the crowd. "Who are you looking for?" I asked him, releasing his arms.

With an angry look at me, he kept looking. "My dad."

My face got warm. "Look, I'm sorry I had to do that back there. I couldn't just let you attack him. Those men would have stopped you and thrown more than harsh words your way. And it wouldn't be very convincing of me to just stand there while you went after him. It would help neither of us if I got locked up too."

He turned to face me head on. To say what, I didn't know. From the tall metal wall, a soldier called down to me.

"Hey, you! We need another firebender on shift. Get up here!"

I sighed. "Duty calls."

Haru scrunched up his nose. "_Firebender?"_

"It's just the uniform," I covered up as I left.

* * *

><p>For a few hours, I played the role of the dedicated-to-the-Fire-Nation soldier. I patrolled the east and south gates, I broke up a fight, and I even ate breakfast with the other soldiers.<p>

One of the men began to tease me, calling me "the new girl".

That activity ceased when another man told him that I was the one who stopped "the crazy earthbender" from attacking the warden. The fact that I lit his beard on fire like a fuse helped too.

He had freaked out, screeching like a little girl until I doused him in tea and the fire went out. After he had left, humiliated and sticky, the woman sitting next to me laughed and patted me on the back, telling me how much of a jerk he was and how I was "alright with her".

It disturbed me how well I was getting along with the rest of the Fire Nation soldiers. It was easier to be around these people then my own friends.

About half past eleven, I was called down to help with new prisoners. I walked down flights of stairs and through hallways, always looking for anything that I could use to my advantage in an escape.

I stood on the receiving platform, waiting for the newcomers in a rigid stance that I copied from the men around me.

When Katara got off the ship with the other prisoners, I was only a little surprised. She, however, didn't control her reaction.

Katara saw me. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped loudly. I tried my best to ignore her and look straight ahead like I was another mindless soldier.

The warden recited his speech, which was almost word for word identical the one from this morning. I wondered to myself if he practiced it.

* * *

><p>From my perch on the wall, I watched Katara and Haru catch up and talk with Haru's dad, Tyro. Katara said something, her voice lowering.<p>

Haru replied and then glanced at me. She followed his gaze and scrunched her eyebrows together. With her head, she motioned towards a spot in the yard near the wall where we could meet and not be seen.

I nodded in agreement.

Standing up to go, I nudged the closest guard, the woman I sat next to during breakfast. "I've got to go to the bathroom."

She grimaced. "Alright," she said unsurely. "But be back before the warden catches you. I'm not taking the heat if you get in trouble for leaving during your shift."

"Don't worry. I'll be right back." I walked calmly to our meeting place.

Katara looked like she wanted to kill me.

"What were you thinking, running off after Haru?" she whispered loudly. "Why didn't you wake Aang and Sokka and I?"

I crossed my arms stubbornly. "Well excuse me if I didn't have time to explain everything to you and still make it on the ship before it left."

"And another thing." She flicked my uniform. "Why are you dressed like a Fire Nation soldier?" At that, Haru's shoulders stiffened. I could tell he wanted that question answered too.

I sighed. "We don't all have time to pull off elaborate fake earthbending plans and get arrested. Acting as a soldier was the quickest and easiest way. And it gets more perks then being a prisoner."

I conjured two apples and three ash bananas from my pockets and handed them out. "Here. Real food."

They took them thankfully and Katara was about to take a bite before she froze and looked at me. "How did you know about the fake earthbending?"

I cleared my throat. "I didn't. It, uh, just seemed like something you would do."

"Oh...alright."

Katara and Haru ate their apples and bananas in silence. Katara discarded the banana peel in the corner and looked sadly out to the prisoners. I threw my peel with hers and nudged her shoulder with mine. "What's wrong?"

She crossed her arms, as if to warm herself. "These people. They have no spirit. I hate to agree with that horrible man, but they really are broken."

Haru looked downcast. "I didn't expect it to be this bad. Even my father..." he trailed of.

"Don't worry," I said wisely, "Everything will be alright. A spirit broken can be molded back together with hope."

Katara looked at me. "Where in the world did you hear that?"

"I came up with it off the top of my head. What do you think?"

Haru coughed to hide a laugh.

I "hmmph"ed. I thought it was good.

* * *

><p>The earthbenders had joined together with the aid of Aang and Katara and had defeated the prison guards.<p>

When Dazhong saw me fighting along side the avatar, he turned red in the face.

"Traitor!" he had shouted.

In my Fire Nation armor, it did appear that I was a traitor. I could say I was never with the Fire Nation in the first place, but that might provoke him to bring up my firebending, which really would make me a traitor in the Fire Nation's eyes. And I couldn't have Katara, Sokka and Aang knowing about my bending...that was for certain.

So I kept my mouth shut tight and kept giving Aang more coal to airbend at the guards.

Now that the riot had been successfully finished, we were on the prisoner ships and were sailing back towards Haru's village.

I sat on the top level on the ship-still in my Fire Nation uniform, because I now had no other clothes, looking down at Katara and Haru, who had requested to be left alone to talk.

I huffed and turned away.

It was stupid of me to even consider getting involved with a character. It might change the entire story. But it still hurt to see Haru smile at Katara like that. I stood up and stormed away. Before I could leave, I smelt burning wood.

Where my bare feet had touched the ground, were foot-shaped burns.

Growling in unnecessary rage, I got down on my hands and knees, careful to avoid using my injured hand, and heated my hand so I could rearrange the burns to _not_ look like I had fire-stepped.

I finished and got up to examine my handiwork. There was no way to get rid of the burns, but I did reshape them so that it looked like I had dropped something really, _really_ hot.

I took a deep breathe. There was no need for me to throw a tantrum over something so silly. Taking another deep breathe, I made sure my anger was all but gone before I went to our chambers to go take a nap.

* * *

><p>(Author's Note) there we have it :) Now chapter's 1-7 I had started writing during summer vacation, but due to certain similarities between this chapter and the most recent chapters of another fanfiction, I had to change it up a little bit, which threw the entire plot down the drain. So I restarted how it's supposed to go in my mind, and I like it a lot more than the other. So yay!<br>Chapter 8 is already done, but I'm going to wait until i finish typing 9 before i post it, so expect a larger amount of time before I update next. Sorry :/

Reviews make me write faster, which will make me update faster. Just sayin' ;)


	8. Book 1 Chapter 8: Emma Imprisoned

/WARNING/  
>This is an angsty chapter<p>

* * *

><p>I woke up as the sun rose over the mountains.<p>

Stretching, I yawned and rolled over. This was a mistake because the pointy armor dug into my ribcage.

I sat up fast and glared sleepily down at what I was wearing.

"Stupid firebenders and their stupid metal clothes and their stupid "rise with the sun" stupidness."

I had stayed up late last night, and I had gotten about three hours of sleep, if that. If it was a trait of being a firebender to get up when the sun did, you could count me out.

Getting to my feet, I shuffled to the river and almost fell in.

"Stupid river."

I clumsily kneeled down to wash my hands and face.

Now that the cool water was splashed into my face, it didn't seem like a bad idea to just strip down to my sarashi wraps and dive right in.

In fact...

* * *

><p>By the time Aang and Katara had woken up, I was still in the river, floating along with the current and swimming back against it. The water felt so nice, I just couldn't find the will power to get out.<p>

I bluntly ignored them until a feeble waterbending attempt by Katara splashed me in the face while I floated downstream on my back.

I barely stopped myself in time from boiling up the entire river as my body temperature increased in annoyance. Still, the water bubbled feebly where it was closest to me. Luckily, neither of them noticed.

"C'mon," Katara called. "We're getting ready to head off."

Getting out of the river lazily and stretching my back, I looked at her through half lidded eyes.  
>"How 'bout no?"<p>

I could see a vein twitch in her forehead. Before she started yelling, Aang spoke up.

"We have to leave though. Don't you want to go visit the next town?"

I scratched my cheek.

"Yeah," I drawled out, "but I want to explore around here for a bit too." I snapped my fingers. "Hey, I got a brilliant plan! Why don't we split up?"

"Oh, you just want to be lazy for a while longer!" Katara shouted in frustration.

Aang exchanged a worried look with Sokka. "Why would you want to split up?"

I waved him off as I went to get some earth nuts to share with Re. "We won't be separated for long. We'll meet up in the next village."

Katara clenched her fists. "Fine," she said in a clipped voice. "Let her stay. If we leave without you, don't forget it was your idea."

"Katara..." I hushed Sokka.

"No, it's fine." I forced my voice into a decent, pleasant tone. I was going to play on Katara's natural compassion. "I promise I won't take long. I just want look around. This place feels so familiar."

It was a lie, of course, but Katara's expression lightened, so at least she would stop yelling at me.

* * *

><p>In the end, the three of them all agreed to wait for me in the closest town.<br>I lay back on the long grass, close enough to feel Re's warmth, thinking about the importance of what I had just done. The gang was going to have there mystical encounter of the week with Hai Bai, the black and white panda spirit, and I was going to be able to practice my bending.

I should do this more often.

Inhaling deeply, I exhaled a puff of smoke, similar to that of someone smoking a cigarette. I mentally shuddered at the comparison. My parents were always smoking around the house, and that brought back nauseating memories of coming home to the stench.

For a while, I walked in the woods until Re and I came upon a natural hot spring. I was certain that this was the same one that Iroh had found. Thankfully, he hadn't found it yet.

Just Iroh himself wasn't a threat to me, so would it really be a bad thing to hang around, waiting for him? As long as I avoided Zuko, I thought. He knew I was traveling with the avatar, and not to mention, I was wearing a stolen Fire Nation uniform.

Practicing in this heavy armor somehow didn't seem like a possibility. I searched the ground until I found a sharp enough rock. Wondering why I hadn't thought to do this earlier, I removed my clothes and set to work sawing off the metal parts.

The end result was a pair of pants that only reached my knees and a low cut shirt with uneven sleeves. _It's not perfect, but it will do._

With the heavy metal tossed carelessly to the side, I sat down cross-legged next to Re and lit a candle from my bag. I had seen Zuko do this once, and I spent a lot of time wondering if it worked.

Slowly, I inhaled, concentrating on the small flickering flame. After just a few breathes, the candle's fire became in sync with my breathing. I exhaled and the flame burned hotter and larger. Inhaled and it shrank it heat and size. Exhale. Inhale. Breathe in. Breathe out. Concentrate. Focus.

I was starting to feel relaxed until Re stretched and whacked my injured wrist with her paw in the process. I yelped without thinking and flinched, knocking over the candle.

Within seconds, the dry grass caught fire. A small motion of my hand and it was gone.

"You're more trouble than you're worth, you know that?"

She cuddled into my side and began to chuff. Caving in, I patted her head. She mewed affectionately.

Now that the sun was directly above in the sky, I felt a little bit more awake, a bit more powerful.

I swung to my feet and stretched my arms in anticipation. Re looked at me expectantly.

I stared out into the small clearing. What to do? I had already proven that I could conjure a fire. I could effectively control it, to a point. Not to mention my ability to mess with other firebender's bending.

The only thing I hadn't worked on was actual fighting.

Not once in my many secret practice cessions have I trained using my fire as a weapon.

Lighting up my hand, I paced forward, bouncing the fireball back and forth between my hands while I bit my lip, deep in thought.

Finally, I came to a decision, planting myself into the assumed center of the clearing. I face an apple tree. The ripe red fruits stand out against the green leaves, making it ideal for target practice.

Closing my eyes, I mimic the breathing exercise from earlier. My entire surroundings are quiet except for the bubbling of the spring and the occasional chirping of birds.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and readied a small flame on my fingertips. Without another pause, I thrust my fist forward, flinging the fire at the tree. As it moves, I will it to slim into an arrow-like shape.

I miss and set a branch on fire. Maybe it's not so ideal afterall.

The sudden fire-soaked tree frightens me. Re is up on all four now, a constant growl growing in her throat, except she isn't looking at the tree. I push it off as her seeing a squirrelrat or something.

My mind is on other things. Like putting out the tree before it starts a forest fire.

I raise my arms above my head, cursing as I try to make the fire smaller and more manageable. The effort makes my head throb and a few drops of sweat dot my forehead.

The fire doesn't seem to be getting any smaller, and black spots are starting to appear in my vision.

The last thing I hear is a menacing hiss from Re before my world goes black and I slump to the ground.

* * *

><p>I had a dream about playing pai sho with Re. She had her paws in front of her face, her strange yellow eyes examining the playing field intensely. Suddenly, she looks up at me, moves a tile on the board, and smiles a toothy grin.<p>

"I win." Her voice was deep, like a house cat's purr, but smoother than I would expect. If I ever expected to hear my tigerdillo talk to me. Which I hadn't.

She put her paw forward to shake, but it wasn't paw, it was a human hand. I looked up in alarm and saw that Re had been replaced by a tall man with long black hair and silk red and black robes.

I pulled my hand back immediately, just before his caught fire, threatening to burn me alive.

He laughed manically, eyeing me with eyes the same color as Re's. He tossed the table to the side and was engulfed in a huge fire. It felt like I was melting, my skin bubbling off onto the floor, pooling at my feet. Without any warning, the tall man became a mirror.

My reflection wasn't my own. It was someone who should have died thousands of years ago. My skin was deteriorated and a horrible shade of color that wasn't natural for human beings. My hair was white and wispy, where I had hair, and sticking out in odd angles. My eyes were bloodshot and lifeless.

I woke up screaming.

Re's face was right in mine, her nose touching my nose. Her whiskers tickled my cheeks. I tried to shakily sit up, but she was lying on my chest.

"Get off, Re." She chuffed and nuzzled her head in-between my neck and shoulder.

At the sound of man clearing his throat, her head snapped up and a deep growl rumbled continuously in the back of her throat.

I also started at the sound, facing whomever Re was trying to protect me from.

Sitting a few feet away from my, in the shade of the apple tree was Iroh himself in red and black robes.

"So that is your name," he addressed Re, then me. "What a spirited young animal you have. She wouldn't let me any closer to you. I'm afraid I had to leave you where you had fainted after I put out your accident."

So he had seen me firebend. He may have been watching me the entire time. I stared at him blankly.

"Excuse me rudeness. My name is Iroh." He extended his hand, only to retract it when Re snapped at him. I placed my hand on her muzzle, mutely telling her to calm down.

I bowed my head slightly after I sat up against the tree trunk. "My name is Emma."

Iroh returned the slight bow. "It is nice to meet you," he said in his gravelly tone.

Tentatively, now that she knew I wasn't in danger, Re inched closer to him. He kept his hands folded safely in his lap, knowing that if he reached out to her, she would try to bite him again. After a short moment, she got close enough to sniff him. I could only smell the stench of burnt wood and greens. Apparently, she deemed him harmless, because she went and curled in his lap. I could hear her chuffing from where I sat.

"Re," I chastened, but Iroh waved it off. He stroked the tough armor on her back. "She is doing no harm. I do not mind."

I let her be; partly recognizing that she had a good judge of character after she let her guard down.

The silence that followed may have been comfortable for Re, but I was tenser than a spring. I kept expecting him to bring up my ruined Fire Nation armor, or my firebending, or the fact that I was allied with the Avatar, whom his nephew was trying to capture.

"So," he finally intoned. "What is a young lady like you doing by herself out in the woods?" He didn't say it, but I could hear the hidden question. What is a firebender by herself in the Earth Kingdom?

"I'm not alone," I start cautiously. "I temporarily split with my friends."

"The Avatar," he said gruffly.

I busied myself by playing with the long grass before I nodded, not even bothering to look up. After a few minutes of not responding, I look up to see him petting Re, gazing off into the forest.

"You don't mind?" I burst out. "You don't care that I'm friends with the Avatar?"

He turned to me and smiled good-naturedly. "Why would that bother me?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "Well, for starters, your nephew is completely obsessed with finding him and bringing him home to Daddy Dearest."

Iroh shrugged. "That is my nephew's concern, not my own." He shifted. "What does concern me, however, is if the Avatar and your other friends know about your, ah, secret?" He lit his finger on fire for emphasis.

I cleared my throat. "It wouldn't be a secret otherwise."

At that, Iroh chuckled. "That is true." He looked out at the forest again.

My fingers started braiding some of the grass in nervousness. "You're not going to tell anyone, right?"

"It wouldn't be a secret otherwise," he quoted me.

I smiled in response. "Thanks."

We sat like that, Iroh petting Re while I absentmindedly stared of into the distance and played with the grass when Iroh stood up, Re hopping out of his lap.

"Your control over your bending is good, but your aim could be improved upon."

"What?" His sudden change of subject was unexpected.

"You need to work on your aim," he repeated. "Although, the breathing technique is very similar to what I taught my nephew."

I held back a snort. "You don't say?" I stood up too, standing a little bit taller than him.

"Try widening your stance and shifting your weight a tad to the right." He demonstrated. I copied him. "Like this?" "Just a little lower." I adjusted where necessary.

"That's good." He relaxed, but told me to stay. "Now try hitting an apple."

With one last unsure look at Iroh, I inhaled and focused on a particularly plump fruit on a branch near the bottom.

Exhaling, I pointed my fingers the way Azula did when she shot lightning, extending my arms for maximum reach.

Inhale, exhale.

I shot a thin flame from my fingertips. I missed, but it was closer than last time.

"That one was far better," Iroh concluded.

"I missed," I mumbled.

He looked up at the tree. "Where you aiming for a different apple?"

I looked up and was shocked to see that I had hit a different one. It was barely hanging onto the branch, burning away like a candle.

"Oh!" I pushed some loose strands of hair out of my face. "Oh, yeah...I planned that."

Iroh laughed heartily. I smiled, mostly because it was a natural reaction around him. Partly because it felt nice to firebend in front of someone, without fear of being reprimanded.

And of course, I thought too soon.

The moment we stopped laughing, are feet were suddenly covered by rocks. Seconds later, the ground rose up, encasing the two of us in earth. Re squealed as rock encased her too. I was infuriated.

"Hey! What's with this?" I struggled to get my hands free, but the rock came closer to my body. I was trapped.

A group of Earth Kingdom-clad men stepped out of the shadows of the trees.

The man who was obviously the leader walked to the front of the small circle that was forming around Iroh and I. Iroh was glaring intensely at the man.

"Be careful with these two. The girl is a firebender. And this one," he returned Iroh's glare. "He's the brother of the Fire Lord. The Dragon of the West." The man 'hmph'ed. "How ironic that the General who stormed Ba Sing Se for six hundred days and failed is old and fat while the Great City's walls are still standing strong." He cracked his knuckles. "It seems fitting that you'll be imprisoned there."

* * *

><p>I grit my teeth as the chains that had replaced the earth chaffed against my injured wrist and naked ankles. The bumpy ostrich horse ride wasn't making it any better.<p>

Over the ruckus of the wooden cart in front of us, which was carrying a distressed Re, I could hear Iroh and the leader exchanging words. I watched as Iroh yawned widely and started to fall asleep. He fell right off the ostrich horse. I was barely paying attention, but this commanded my attention.

"Iroh!"

Two men picked him up, and I noticed that Iroh's sandal was still on the ground. I saw him smirk.

I continued to struggle. "Let me go!" I shouted again. "I didn't do anything!" My yelling seemed louder against the silence of the night. The man with whom I was sharing a ride with smacked my shoulder. "Silence! You are being arrested for being a Fire Nation citizen in Earth Kingdom territory."

"I'm NOT a Fire Nation citizen! I'm traveling with the Avatar! How many times do I have to tell you?"

My captor laughed once without humor. "Why would the Avatar be traveling with filth like you?"

That rubbed me the wrong way. I sat up straighter, trying to look superior. "I am the Avatar's firebending sensei."

Iroh cast me a curious glance as the man guffawed. "As if the Avatar needs to learn firebending. He's already a master of all four elements, little girl. Besides, you couldn't hit the broad side of a dojo."

I sniffed disdainfully. "It's an off day for me."

One of the men on another ostrich horse told my guard to shut me up. There was a swift and painful knock to my head before I lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>I came to when the sun was in the sky. I groaned as a spot on my temple throbbed.<p>

"Good morning, Emma." Iroh was propped up sideways like me on his ostrich horse with a guard still. He had a bruise on the side of his cheek.

"Iroh," my voice cracked from dehydration. "Your face-" he cut me off.

"I yelled at these _fine gentlemen _after they struck you." He said fine gentlemen the same way he would say maggotworms. "And they hit me as well."

"Oh." I stared off into space for a moment or two until what happened sunk in and my anger heated up. "_Oh._" So must have my body, because the guard flinched away from me and clasped a hand over the place where his back had touched my shoulder.

"Hitting a girl who did absolutely_ nothing _to you," I spat. "Your mother must be so proud."

My guard tightened his hold on the reins. "My mother died when the Fire Nation invaded my village."

I inhaled sharply as my anger seeped away as sudden as a balloon that's been popped. I stared helplessly at the ground beneath the ostrich horse's feet. "I-I didn't know," I choked out. "I'm sorry."

I didn't ask for forgiveness. I wouldn't get it.

"The Avatar is going to make things right again. The Fire Nation won't be able to do this anymore." I closed my eyes tightly and huddled in on myself. "Aang is going to bring peace to this war." I had to clutch my hands to my chest so that he wouldn't be able to see them tremble. "The suffering is going to end..."

"Stop it," the guard mumbled angrily. I looked up at him. He continued on in a whisper, not loud enough for the other earthbenders to hear.

"Do you know how hard this is? To hate you? When you hate the war as much as we do?"

Iroh looked like he was ignoring the two of us, but I could tell he was listening.

I balled my hands into fists. "Do you know how hard it is to be mistaken for _them_?" I whispered back. "To be called a murderer when you've never killed? To be arrested for somebody else's crime? I can bend fire, but I am _not_ Fire Nation." I thought back to Haru's village. "You arresting me for firebending is like me arresting you for earthbending. It's part of who I am." I shook my head. "I can't help it."

The guard hesitated. For a split second, I thought I saw his hands shake, but when I looked again, they were gripping the reins firmly. "You're not kidding, are you?" His voice wasn't as stable as his hands. "You're not with the Fire Nation." He was looking straight ahead. I couldn't see his expression.

"No."

His knuckles were white now. "There's nothing I can do. You were caught firebending with a wanted criminal."

I hung my head in defeat. A strangled moan escaped my lips and I slumped against his back. My body was cold.

Dazhong's words echoed in my ears. _Traitor. Traitor. Traitor. _Over and over again, it repeated. I tried blocking it out by covering my ears, but it only made the word louder. I was a misfit. Traitor amongst the Fire Nation, criminal to everybody else. I didn't belong.

Trying to hold back tears, I looked up at the clear blue sky. It seemed to mock me and my situation. How dare it be beautiful while I suffer? How dare it simulate happiness when I was so far from it?

I was close to cursing whatever supernatural being was responsible for something so horrible when I saw something that made me think I was crazy.

Was that...Aang? On a..._dragon_?

Whatever hope I had emerged when I saw him.

"Aang!" I shouted to the heavens. _"Aang!_"

I thought I saw Aang pivot to face me, but the dragon was moving to fast. He was gone in another blink of an eye. In frustration, I clasped my hands to my face.

The guards must have thought I was crazy.

"Didn't I tell you to be quite? What are you shouting at?" My guard was ashen faced, trying to be as far away from me as possible. Great. Any thoughts he had that made him believe I wasn't crazy were gone now. I groaned for what seemed like the hundredth time today and buried my face in my hands.

I peaked up at Iroh, who I had all but forgotten. He was staring at me when I looked up. His eyes penetrated mine, and I could almost literally hear thousands of questions racing between the bridge he was seemed determined to stare into existence.

I wonder if my pain echoed in my eyes, because he looked away. Out of respect, or the inability to find answers, I wouldn't know.

The guards were still staring at me in shock and confusion when Iroh acted fast. He jumped up from where he sat on the ostrich-horse and tumbled off the edge of the cliff. The Corporal and Captain bent a rock slide to stop Iroh and then jumped over the side after him. I was left on my perch alone as the earthbenders all went to stop the Dragon of the West. This was my chance.

I bent my body temperature to be far, _far_ above average. I tried to get myself so overheated that the metal chains would melt.

Ugh, where was Toph and her metalbending when you needed it?

The chains went from bright red to white as they too heated up. After a few minutes, my tattered clothes were staring to smoke, so I willed with all my might to concentrate on making it so only my wrists and ankles heated up. With all the heat pooled there, the metal began to slip off my wrists. Finally, I was free. Extremely tired, but free.

I leaped of the startled crossbred animal and yanked what was left of my restraints off of my body. I was just flexing my sore muscles when earthbenders leaped up from the cliff on earthen pillars with Iroh. I immediately started shooting random, weak fire balls in their general direction, not caring whether I hit them or not, just wanting to frighten them away.

The ground beneath my feet began to tremble, but I was prepared this time. Thanking my mother for putting me through years of gymnastics, I hurled myself away from the spot I was standing in, which was now occupied with rock slabs. I was repeatedly attacked, and each time, I barely got away, hurling balls of flame as I went.

I was jolted off my feet as a huge wall of rubble crashed over me and pinned me to the ground. It crushed me down, refusing to allow me room to escape.

I let out a loud and echoing yell of frustration.

"We can't risk carrying these two criminals all the way to the Great City as they are. They're too dangerous. We have to deal with them swiftly and severely," the Captain ordered.

A quick glance at Iroh confirmed that he was smirking, like this was what he had planned all along.

Did he understand that that meant I was going to be punished too? He had no right to put my life in jeopardy. With one last desperate, slightly angry look in Iroh's direction, I gave up and succumbed to the dark fatigue that had been waiting to overtake me.

* * *

><p>Iroh's hands were chained to a large boulder. He didn't even seem perturbed when the guard who had believed I wasn't evil bended an equally large chunk of earth to crush his arms.<p>

I cowered against the man who was holding my arms behind my back. Someone was supposed to be here by now. Zuko, Aang, _anyone._

It seemed like it was falling in slow motion, the boulder that was about to take away Iroh's firebending, until, right on cue, it was kicked away by the angry Fire Nation prince.

I breathed a sigh of relieve as the man who was restraining me left to deal with the bigger threat, but it was short lived. I was rushed at by another earthbender.

It was as if time slowed down. I could hear my heartbeat clearly, it was so loud that it blocked out all the other noises. My training from Kyoshi Island kicked in as I swerved rocks and tripped men over their own feet. In my peripheral vision, I saw flashes of fire that indicated the two Fire Nation royals were fighting just as hard.

All in one moment, my hearing came back with the roar of the fight. "Subdue the firebenders!" The Captain shouted. I felt hands around my throat. Bringing my arms up and apart, I released his hold on me, grabbed his shoulders, and brought him down hard to my knee. He clutched his stomach and slumped to the ground.

Just like that, all the earthbenders were knocked out unconscious. I was breathing heavily when I realized the depth of my situation.

Slowly, I turned to face Zuko and Iroh.

Zuko bent fire knifes and stalked towards me.

"You're the avatar's woman," he stated hoarsely.

I took a defensive stance. "One, I am _not_ Aang's _woman._ And two, don't even think about touching me," I spat. "I've been through too much today to deal with any of your crap, Zuko."

Iroh stood were he was with his head bowed passively, not even acknowledging what was happening in front of him. What was happening to me._ Again_.

Zuko glared at me through narrowed eyes. He kept coming towards me in a way that suggested there was no way I'd escape risk of capture. None the less, I backed up a couple of steps.

"I'm not going to get out of one prison to go to another," I shouted futilely, and with light panic. "Don't even try it!"

There was no amount of Kyoshi training that would help me now. Firebending was useless. I couldn't risk anyone else knowing about it. Iroh and the Earth Kingdom soldiers were way too many as it was. For the second time, I was trapped, with no way to get away.

With venom in my eyes, I glared at Zuko with as much cold malevolence as I could muster as I slowly lowered to my knees.

"I'm tired and weak. I can't fight you. _Don't_ expect this to happen _ever_ again," I hissed.

I squeezed my eyes shut as cold chains were locked around me again, and I stifled a whimper as they rubbed painfully against my wrist.

Rough hands grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and heaved me up.

"The Avatar is going to come and save me," I whispered to whomever would listen.

"Good."

* * *

><p>(*AN*AN*AN*)<p>

D8 The angst! Sorry for it, but it was necessary. Originally, it was longer, but I split it up to make less work for myself in the next chap...  
>Reviews make me, and by extension, Emma happier! (But not for a chapter of two...)<p> 


	9. Book 1 Chapter 9: Emma Returns

\*AN*/ Alright you guys, this one's kind of short and rushed. Bare with me.

* * *

><p>The water that the guard gave me was clear and cold. It felt good against my dry throat. Thinking about it, it had been twelve hours since I had anything to eat or drink.<p>

The guard gave me a curious look as he slid a wooden bowl of plain rice into my cell. I ignored him and tried not to shove the entire thing into my mouth at once. One scoopful at a time, take a sip of water, and then another bite of rice.

I finished and found myself with nothing to do.

"Do you have a mirror?" I asked the man standing on the other side of the bars. He looked down his long nose at me, but didn't reply. I waited for another second before grunting. "Well, thanks anyways then."

I reached up to my knotted hair and attempted to smooth it out with my fingers. My scalp ached as I tugged and pulled it straight. Finally, it was as neat as it was going to be, twisted into a loose bun at the nape of me neck.

Next, I splashed my grimy face with the remains of my drinking water and scrubbed as much dirt off as possible. I ripped part of my already tattered pants off and used it as a rag to dry my face and hands. Then I used it as a bandage to cover a nasty gash over my left knee that was a souvenir from my earthbending hosts.

It was the most I could do to feel clean with such limited options.

All the while I was neatening myself up, the guard watched me warily, as if I had hidden motives behind wanting to be clean. "Relax," I snapped. "Just because I'm a prisoner doesn't mean I have to be grubby like one."

He only had time to sneer when a quiet knock came at the door. A man side stepped in without further notice and spoke gruffly. "I'm relieving you of your watch. Report to Captain Xiatung."

The guard saluted, "yes sir" and then marched out.

I stared evenly at the helmeted man who had replaced my guard. He was short and his clothes were draped as if to try to hide a round stomach and I recognized his voice. "Hello, General," I deadpanned. "To what pleasure do I invite you into my humble abode?"

There came a faint chuckle from underneath the helmet before it was removed and I was face to face with Iroh. "Does nothing get past you?" he wondered out loud.

"What do you want?" I got straight to the point, not caring for pleasantries. A quiet meow had me up on my feet. "Re?"

The tigerdillo cub's head popped out of a bag on Iroh's back. She struggled to hop out before slipping through the iron bars and cuddling against my ankles frantically. I scooped her up and buried my face in the soft fur of her neck, sinking to my knees.

I was aware that Iroh was watching, but completely ignored him, letting him know that I cared little that he was here.

After several minutes of Re and I reacquainting with each other, Iroh started to rummage through his bag he had brought. He pulled out something I couldn't see and made a sound of approval. Then he stepped towards the big iron lock and fidgeted with it. My curiosity took the better of me. "What are you doing?" As if to answer me, the bars sprung open.

I stared out cautiously. Already I had tasted freedom earlier only to have it ripped away. My heart would only be crushed if I allowed myself false hope.

Iroh tapped his hand against the bars impatiently. "We must hurry before someone notices that you are gone." I stared at him blankly. "You stood by me and let me get thrown in this hole. And you're helping me get out?"

His eyes softened. "I am sincerely sorry, Emma, but there was nothing I could do to stop my nephew." I turned my face away in disgust and didn't reply. Re batted my knee with her paw. I looked down at her and regretted it. Her golden eyes blinked up at me and my resolve crumbled.

"Did you tell him that I was a firebender?" My whisper was so quiet; I didn't believe he heard me for a second until he said spoke up. "If so many people knew of a secret, it would no longer be such."

I took that as a "no".

"This doesn't mean I trust you," I mumbled as I stood back up with Re. He nodded. "I understand."

* * *

><p>Iroh commanded the recently 'acquired' ostrichhorse to a halt. I fixed my new dark brown hooded cloak and readjusted Re in my arms before sliding off carefully. We were at the hot springs. I flinched when I saw the disrupted ground, evidence of something I just wanted to forget.<p>

Patting the animal's neck to calm it, Iroh smiled down at me. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss. Emma. Although, maybe next time we are in each other's presence, the circumstances won't be so unfavorable!" He laughed at his own joke and when he saw that I wasn't, became serious. "Are you sure that you will be able to find your friends?"

I nodded once, trying not to look him in the eyes. "They're only a few hours away. I'll find them easily enough." He looked worried. "Wouldn't you prefer I take you closer and save you the aching feet?"

"I-I would prefer that you didn't. My friends and Zuko do not need to be closer than they are now."

Iroh stroked his beard in thought. "You still do not trust me, eh?"

I diverted my eyes. "I see. Well, happy travels then." he raised his head in farewell and then he was gone.

I pet Re's underbelly and let out a large exhale, finally able to breathe freely. Seeing the entire forest ahead of me, I started walking in the general direction of the village, plucking a handful of moon peaches for Appa and Momo from a tree as I passed it.

I would _**definitively not **_be doing this more often. And any fangirl crush I might have still had for Zuko was **_ definitively _**gone.

* * *

><p>I stumbled into the village, exhausted. Re trotted behind me, equally tired. Only half a minute passed before I was bombarded by Sokka and Katara and Aang and Momo.<p>

"What took you so long?"

"Are you okay?"

"Where have you been?"

"Chitter chitter?"

It took another moment to find the words to speak. Seconds ticked away. Momo climbed on my shoulders and pawed through the pockets of my cloak until he found the moon peaches and scurried away, Re in chase. I watched Momo toss a few into Appa's waiting mouth. My friends looked at me, waiting.

I saw the worry in their eyes and forced myself to smile. "I'll tell you all about it after I get something to eat. I'm starving!" On cue, my stomach rumbled angrily. Sokka looked at me like I was stupid. "Why didn't you just eat the peaches?"

"Those were for Momo and Appa. And besides, I'm not a huge fan."

Katara grabbed hold of my arm and started to tow me towards a building. "I told you that this was a bad idea," she chided. I recognized this voice. She used it with Sokka many times, and a few instances with Aang. This was the voice she used when she was mad, but relieved that I was okay. She had never used this voice with me, because I had never gotten into trouble before. This voice meant she cared about me. The realization of this picked at my heart. It made me feel wanted. I let her lead me away.

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight: you got into a fight with a Fire Nation spy?"<p>

I had just relayed my story onto them. I had to pile on yet another lie to make them believe what happened to me.

"_Yes, _Sokka," I groaned. "For the hundredth time, I caught a woman trying to gather top secret information. We fought, and I handed her over to Earth Kingdom soldiers, after I kicked her butt."

Katara slurped down a mouthful of noodles. "What about your clothes? They're all ripped up. And where did you get the cloak?"

I cracked my neck and fell down on my back, ticking the answers to her questions off on my fingers. "I sawed off the metal parts because they were heavy, I burnt them while fighting the firebender, and the soldiers let me keep her cloak for warmth." Now I was dressed in a pale green dress that a woman had given me with a brown sash to tie around my waist. I kept the cloak to remind me of my new distrust of Iroh.

Sokka rubbed his chin. "Just a few days of training with Suki and the other kyoshi warriors, and you can already take down a firebender by yourself?" He gave me a thumbs up. "Maybe you're not useless, after all!"

I stared at him blankly, not sure if I should yell at him or not. "Thanks Sokka," I said emotionlessly. "That really means a lot to me..." He beamed, missing my sarcasm. "No problem!"

Katara and I rolled our eyes. Despite my full stomach, I reached for another bowl of noodles. As I ate, I noticed how Aang was staring out the window, at his hands, up at the ceiling. Anywhere but at us. That made me wonder if he had told the other two about how he had to go see Roku. Dinner passed, and I slowly realized that Sokka and Katara did know. I hadn't paid enough attention to Aang earlier, because it was _me_ he wasn't looking at. I wracked my brain, trying to understand why he was avoiding eye contact with me.

With a strangled groan, I grit my teeth and hit my hand against my forehead. _When I was with the earthbenders. I called out for him when he rode over on that dragon!_

"Ugh!" I buried my head in my hands.

"Emmy?" Peaking up, I saw them all looking at me. Sokka was mid-chew.

I stood up abruptly. "Nothing!" I snapped. "I'm fine." Crossing my arms, I squeezed my upper arms, leaving red crescent shaped indents and rushed away, not looking behind me or heeding their pleas to come back and explain. I pushed through the mat that hung in the doorway and found myself running to Appa and curling up in his long fur. _Why am I such an idiot?,_ I thought to myself. _I can never do anything right! Jeez, I probably ruined everything!_

From a short distance away, I could hear my name being called. They were worried. _About me_. Guilt twisted my insides as I hoisted myself up to rest on my stomach, supported on my elbows. I buried my face into the course white fur of Appa's tail. Katara called my name again. When Appa roared, alerting her to my position, I scowled at the huge beast and thumped face down, hoping to conceal myself, even just a little bit.

I had no such luck. A few moments ticked by before a soft hand, cold in comparison to my bare arm, patted me. I groaned and rolled over. "What do you want, Katara?" She looked down at me with big blue eyes. "Are you okay? We were worried sick. Are you sure something didn't happen when you were gone?"

"Nothing happened!" I snapped, "I'm perfectly okay!"

She recoiled, grasping her hands together and looking at me with those big blue eyes. And that's when I saw it. Her eyes were so kind, calm, and as blue as the water she bent. If I looked at my reflection, my eyes would blue too, but they'd be clearer, like ice, and just as cold. How did I fit in with these people? They were the definition of light, fighting to save the world. To save the world from firebenders.

_My kind_, I thought bitterly. And what was I doing? Tagging along, leaving a trail of lies. I was as cold as my eyes, and no fire of mine would stop that. I piled on lie after lie after lie and I couldn't stop. If I wanted everybody else to be happy, I would keep lying. That was the only thing I was doing here, and I didn't see myself doing anything else, and it wasn't making _me_ happy.

I was tired, and I'm sure my face showed it as I spoke. "Katara, I just don't want to do this right now. It's like, post-fight stress, or something like that. I'll be over it by tomorrow, I promise."

Katara's eyes tightened, but she smiled weakly anyways. "If you're sure...then okay. Why don't you get some sleep? We'll all need it if we're going to the Fire Nation." Her mouth twisted in displeasure when she said that. "Let's just hope Aang can talk to Avatar Roku without any trouble."

My gaze wandered guiltily. "Yeah, let's hope." I flipped loose hair out of my eyes. "Goodnight," I said as I started to head back to my things.

* * *

><p>When we were all tucked into our sleeping bags, Aang, Katara, and Sokka sound asleep, I rolled over and stroked a slumbering Re's ear. "Let's hope," I repeated with a trace of sarcasm.<p>

* * *

><p>I had watched Aang the entire time we flew on Appa to Crescent Island. He joked with Katara and Sokka, but his shoulders were stiff. He made jokes that they barely laughed at. Both of them were tense, even more so than Aang. He might have lived in a time where the Fire nation was amiable, but the two water tribe siblings were raised on the ideas that they were lowlife, lying monsters.<p>

I had walked besides them as we followed the Fire Sage. Whenever I had touched Katara or Aang, their skin was cold, and even Sokka's skin wasn't as warm as mine, but when my arm brushed against Shyu's, I was startled that he was just as warm as I was. At the time, that had worried me. If warmer than usual body temperature was an indicator of firebending, than I would have to avoid physical contact with people.

My worrying came to an abrupt stop after Sokka's fake firebending went off and we were suddenly surrounded by the other sages. The Sages had opened the door with firebending. Where I was hidden, I basked in the warm glow their fire blasts had created. While Katara, Sokka, Shyu and Momo occupied them, I stepped carefully to where Aang was supposed to be hiding. Back turned, Aang hadn't seen Zuko creeping up behind him. I had shouted out, alerting Aang, who saw Zuko and airbended himself away just in time. The Fire Nation prince demanded the sages close the doors. The metal doors had groaned as I had taken a stance against Zuko, who glared at me with rage. Before he had a chance to ask me how I escaped, I had hurled myself at him, only to be cast aside as Zuko went after the Avatar. I remember landing on my injured wrist, crying out in pain, Zuko's angry yell as Aang slipped through the doors, just as they closed, a blinding blue light, and then the surprised yelp as the Sages turned on Sokka and Katara.

I couldn't have Zuko talk about what had happened while I was away from the group. That wouldn't do at all. So I had leapt at him again, distracting him. My efforts were in vain. I had tried to trip him, but he deftly avoided my kick and side kicked me in the stomach. Stumbling back, I had grit my teeth and tried again. Each time I attacked him, he stepped to the side until he had finally firebended a long sweeping motion of fire and sent it towards me. While I was distracted by that, he had grabbed me by the back of my cloak and flung me to the floor. The Fire Sages hadn't wasted time grabbing me by my forearms and chaining me up against the pillar between Sokka and Shyu.

A promise to deal with me later and I was completely forgotten as Zuko faced the door with the Sages and settled into a rigid stance.

The rest of our trip was a blur. Most of what I can remember is just a magnificent blue light and the sulfur smell that resided in the temple. One thing stood out clearly, though. As I looked on at Avatar Roku's spirit, I could swear he looked directly at me and scowled.

_Great_, I had thought, _someone else to add to the list of powerful people that didn't like me._

But now I was curled up in Appa's saddle, as far away from the others as possible. Katara did her best to try and comfort Aang after he told us about the comet. Sokka and Katara were exhausted, as was I, and I was sure Aang was too, but Aang and I were still awake.

I was staring blankly at the stars when I heard him call my name softly. Pursing my lips, I scooted over to where he was resting atop Appa's head. "Yeah?" I muttered.

Aang looked up at me. "I saw you, the other day when I was in the spirit world." His grayish eyes didn't hold anything but confusion. I listened. "You were in chains. Were those Earth Kingdom men arresting you?"

Biting my lip, I opted to lie on my stomach with my arm over the side of the saddle, running my fingers through Appa's fur. One innocent look from Aang and I decided not to lie. "Yeah," I murmured. "I was being arrested." In shame, I bent my head down.

To my surprise, Aang didn't look upset. "What did you do?" he asked curiously. Instead of answering him, I pat him on the head, climbed down next to him in the soft fur, and took the discarded reigns. "Nothing important. I'll tell you later, kay? Why don't you go to sleep? I'll steer Appa for now."

Aang yawned dramatically. He nodded sleepily. Clambering between where Sokka and Katara were, he rested his head on a rolled up sleeping bag. Before he closed his eyes, he yawned again. "You know, Emmy, when I saw you, I could have sworn you were glowing blue like a spirit. But I was flying pretty fast. It was probably my imagination..."

With eyes strained forward, I listened to him drift off until all the sounds were the hushing of the wind and the soft breaths of my sleeping friends.

I also might have contemplated the tidbit about me glowing blue, but my heavy eyelids locked all thoughts out as I slumped against Appa. And then the world went black, and there wasn't a world anymore.

* * *

><p>\*AN* No, she's not dead. She just fell asleep. Dramatically.

Three to five review required if you want an update.

PS, You'll never be as cool as Hai Bai.

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	10. Book 1 Chapter 10: Before

_I was falling, falling through black space, and then I reached the ground. Bracing myself for impact, I waited and waited. But I didn't hear the loud CRASH! that was expected. It sounded more like..._

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

With a startled cry, I lurched forward in my bed, only to hit my head against a paper crane that was hanging on a string from my ceiling. It swayed back and forth while I assessed my situation.

BEEP BEEP BEE-!

I smashed my hand on the sleep button and rolled over under the comforter. Snuggling into a cocoon of blankets with a small smile, I was about to fall back asleep before I realized with a start that I had already stalled my alarm clock more that once already.

Sure enough, one look at my alarm clock confirmed the time to be about half past too-late. I leapt out of my bed and tugged on a pair of jeans from my floor and pulled a clean shirt from my dresser. Quickly stuffing papers that I may or may not need (one could never be sure) into my bag and struggling for the zipper for what seemed like an hour, I spared another glance at the time and was relieved that I saved a few spare minutes before the bus for school showed up.

Downstairs, I was greeted by my younger brother and sisters, who were waiting not so patiently by the door. Casting my bag haphazardly on the bench, I made my way to the kitchen, grabbed an unopened pack of poptarts and a water bottle.

My dad was sitting at his laptop, a cigarette perched between his lips as he typed furiously on the keyboard. He barely acknowledged me as I kissed his forehead goodbye, dramatically waving away the fumes and coughing a few times for emphasis. He didn't look up. I rolled my eyes and finally responded to the shouts of my youngest sister to get ready.

* * *

><p>After an uneventful bus ride, I stepped off at the high school and looked around for my friends.<p>

Suddenly, someone tackled me from behind. I made sounds of protest before Lana finally let go and proceeded to jump up and down next to me, pulling my along to our first block class.

"And then, he said 'I don't know if I can go or not.' Can you believe that? He throws himself at me like a lost puppy dog and then tosses me aside when some other girl walks by!"

The social studies teacher made a snide remark about teenage girls who couldn't save their gossip for after class. Lana blushed at being caught. "Sorry Mrs. Jenison," she mumbled, embarrassed.

I made sure the teacher had turned back to the map of Ancient Greece before answering my best friend. "Are you sure there's another girl?" I whispered. "It could have just been a coincidence that he has a family reunion on the same day of your date...again."

Lana gave me The Look. "Oh yeah? His family must love being around each other a lot then, if they have three reunions in a month," she muttered.

"Miss. Gentile I suggest you pay attention if you want to pass the unit test this time around."

"Sorry." Lana diverted her face to her notebook. Thinking she was going to start paying attention, I took notes on Mrs. Jenison's lesson about the Parthenon. It was actually quite fascinating. Then a folded piece of loose life paper landed in my lap. I sent an exasperated glance at Lana. If it wasn't for my stellar work in this class, I'm sure the teacher would have yelled at me too. I sighed and unfolded the note.

_I just think that it's time to leave him. You know, time to take a hint. He obviously doesn't want to be around me._

I rolled my eyes and started scribbling a response. _Maybe you should ask Sam or Marcus. They might know a little bit more about how a guy's mind works than I do._

A few seconds passed before I hear her snort. Erasing what I wrote, I tried again.

"_What's wrong with asking Sam?_

She looked impatient. Grabbing the piece of paper from my hands, she started writing furiously. _Are you kidding me? You're my best friend, not him! Boy problems are for girl friends!_

Underneath the almost unreadable scrawl was a poorly drawn angry face.

I purposely didn't answer back, just to make her jumpy. Instead, I tapped my pencil against the desk, staring blankly at the white board.

When Mrs. Jenison asked me a question about Greek mathematicians, I answered without thinking and continued to tap, barely noticing the disappointed look on her face when she failed to catch me off guard. As if she ever would. I could ace this class in my sleep.

Lana groaned in frustration and rested her head against the desk, her short red hair just touching the fake wood.

The bell chose to ring at that moment, and she was up faster than her mood changes. She helped me pack my bag, my slow pace annoying her as usual, and then dragged me down the hall to meet up with Sam and Marcus. When Sam saw us, his face lit up and he handed an incomplete rubix cube to his friend, who took up shifting the blocks back and forth.

"Hey," Sam waved. "I was just thinking about you guys." Lana beamed. "Well, that's a coincidence; we were just talking about you!"

He basically ignored Lana, instead, looking at me for answers. "Oh yeah?" I didn't miss Lana's confused expression. I smiled at Sam. "Yeah, we were. Lana wanted to know if you could translate guy problems for her."

"No I wasn't," she burst. "It was Emma's idea!"

Sam clasped his hands in front of his face, professional-like. "I see. Pray tell," he said in his best cockney accent, "what fellow are you having take a look see at ya bristols this time-o-round? I don't really give a flying duck if you've been looking at his cobblers, but I swear, he's a right ol' iron hoof. That merchant's banker better scarper before I give 'em a d'oyly carte right in the loaf!"

Lana and I stared at him with wide eyes. Only Marcus seemed to know what he said, because he burst out laughing before being pulled back into the colorful piece of plastic. Lana put her face in her hands and shook her head in mock horror. "Why I hang out with you losers, I'll never know."

I smiled and put my arm around her. "You wouldn't love me if I wasn't crazy! I'll down anyone who says otherwise!" My shout drew the attention of a short freshman who squeaked and walked away. I pointed my finger at her and pretended I was shooting a gun. Blowing on the fake barrel of my fake gun, I dramatically put it in my fake holster and stuck my thumbs in the belt loops of my jeans. "One down, the rest of the world to go."

Lana smirked at my serious expression. Sam nodded his head wisely and pretended to spit in a bucket. "Pardner, you're gunna need a partner to take out an entire world of non-believers. You'll need a whole dang army." He patted the top of my head. "Good thing neither of us are going of us are going into war anytime soon, right?"

I stuck my tongue out at him and linked my arm with Lana's. "C'mon, Lana. Let's leave these weird people and go hang out with some awesome people. Like each other." Sam, not wanting to be left out, blew a tuft of brown hair out of his eyes and hooked onto my free arm.

"Let's go." he waved goodbye to Marcus, who had already started leaving anyways. "See you after art class."

* * *

><p>Art was dull, to say the least. The teacher was a bald man who usually left us to our own devices as he sketched in a notebook or played games on his phone.<p>

"It's our little secret," he had told us the first day. "You do what you're supposed to, when you're supposed to, and I don't mind what you do." With a wink, he had left us an assignment and was then entranced by angry birds.

This particular class, I had nothing to hand in, so I was doodling on a piece of scrap paper. From his desk, Mr. Smith yelled at "the stupid pigs". I minded my own. I didn't realize that I had an audience until Sam reached over and tilted my paper so he could see it.

"Is that Avatar the last Airbender?" he exclaimed. I snatched it back. "Maybe it is."

Sam grinned wickedly. "We use to watch that at my house when we were kids. Who's the little blue guy supposed to be?"

"It's Sokka. See, I drew them by the color of their nation. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. There's Zuko and Aang, and that one is _The Boulder_." I put unnecessary, but completely necessary emphasis on "The Boulder's" name when I pointed to a buff green guy.

"Haha, yes! I remember him! He was in the one of the last episodes, with the blind guy."

I rolled my eyes. "There's like, a whole bunch of episodes after that. And the blind guy was a girl."Sam rubbed his chin. "I think I wanted to be a firebender." I wrinkled my nose.

"What? What's wrong with that?"

"Firebending is too destructive. I wanted to be a waterbender, like Katara."

Sam lolled his head back. "Booorriing! Fire is the most powerful. You could conjure it out of thin air. You actually need to have water to do anything at all if you were a waterbender."

"Wrong. You're thinking like the Fire nation. Power is in the eye of the beholder, you know. Water is the better element, because you could have the ability to heal and stuff."

From her seat, Lana tried to join our nerd-conversation. "But, in the movie, didn't they have to have fire, like, actually there to use it?"

Sam and I gave her "the look".

Mr. Smith took the opportunity to butt in from his cushy office chair. "Lana, you should know that the movie was no good." he turned to us. "And you two; stop fighting. All the elements are equally important."

Our table was dead silent until a sophomore from across the room piped up. "And that's why Mr. Smith would be the Avatar, not you two."

I snatched my paper away from their prying eyes, trying not to laugh. "So what, it's just a cartoon anyways. Who cares if I want to draw some pictures about it?"

Sam, who had just gotten over laughing at the comment from the sophomore, snickered. "Maybe you're right. You're so sensitive; you would be a waterbender, just like that Katara chick."

I pursed my lips, but opted not to say anything. Lana tried to get Sam's attention multiple times, but was brushed off. She pouted to herself, not liking when people were upset with her. By the end of class, she had tried just about everything she could think of to make Sam tell her what was wrong. I sort of felt bad for her when he kept on ignoring her.

We walked together out of the classroom, Lana and I, arms linked while we tried to sync our footsteps together when I started coughing. Lana yanked me to a stop and hit me on the back lightly. "You okay?"

I cleared my throat and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think I just had some dust in my throat or something."

She shrugged her shoulders and kept marching on. "Okie Dokie." I was pulled alongside her.

* * *

><p>We never did get the hang of marching in tune with each other. Her steps were too fast and long, mine too short and slow. The entire bus ride, I was updated constantly via text messaging of Lana's conversation with her boyfriend. I started ignoring texts from her about half an hour in. I kept coughing.<p>

When I got home, my middle sister asked me how my day was and then read the note from the counter left by our mom. She had asked me to start dinner, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Can we pleeeeaaaasse have chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes Emmy? Please? I'll do the dishwasher afterwards!" Chloe pouted out her lower lip and widened her eyes, succeeding in making herself look like a Chihuahua.

Putting my hands on my hips, I towered over her threateningly. "One," I said menacingly, "don't call me Emmy. You know how much I hate that stupid nickname. And two…you have to do the dishwasher anyways because Ronald and I did it yesterday."

She hung her head in defeat and moped away. I could barely keep myself from calling her out on her act of sorrow. I reached into the freezer and pulled out the frozen nuggets, already preheating the oven. "I wanted chicken anyways," I said to myself.

I turned my head away from the food as I coughed again.

* * *

><p>Now it was time for my younger siblings to go to bed. Mom and Dad still weren't home, surprise surprise. I hoisted myself out of the couch were I was doing biology homework and trudged up the stairs to tuck them in.<p>

Ronald was already asleep, so I turned off his light and gaming system before closing the door and moving on to Chloe's room. Tripping over a lego, I contained my curse and glared at her. She looked at me from under her covers and grinned goofily. "Sorry! I forgot to pick them up."

I coughed at her in response. Shying away, she crossed her fingers in a sign to ward off unwanted germs. "Are you okay? You've been coughing all day. You're not coming down with a cold are you? Kayla's sister has a cold. But now she's all better, but she has a HUGE load of homework to do now because she missed school. I hope you're not sick, because then you'd have to miss school and do homework, and I don't know. Yeah."

With a raised eyebrow, I pulled her heavy blanket up to her ears and patted her lightly on the forehead. She stuck out her tongue.

Leaving the door open just a crack, I left her to go tuck in my youngest sister. Maria was propped up, waiting for me. As I went to turn off the lights, she spoke up. "You're forgetting something, Emmy."

I smiled and went and sat on her bed. "How could I forget? Nighty night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, I'll see you in the morning, and I love you." She leaned forward and hugged me tightly. "I love you too, Emmy." I smiled as I turned the light off and closed her bedroom door. With a satisfying click, it was closed and I made my way to my own room.

"It's not Emmy, it's Emma," I whisper to no one.

I reached my bed before I started coughing violently. Putting my hand to my mouth, I coughed into it until something wet coated my fingers. Disgusted, I wiped it on a towel and started to walk away, but stopped. Clicking my tongue, I went back to put the towel in a dirty hamper.

"What the..?" I took a closer look. What I thought was saliva was…was…

The bloody towel shook with my hands. I was coughing up _blood._

I didn't feel the towel fall out of my hands; I didn't hear the strangled sound that escaped my throat; I didn't see my frightened expression in the mirror. I tasted the coppery metal taste of the blood on my tongue. I smelled it on my hands.

For the longest moment, as I hesitantly took the first steps to the phone, I was deaf. All I could hear was the beating of my own heart. One foot in front of the other. Left. Right. Left...right. Left right left right. Now I was running. I banged my knee on a chair as I slid past the dining room table. I tripped over shoes and backpacks as I sprinted into the foyer. The phone slipped from my hands, but I managed to hold on to it. My numb fingers dialed my mom's cell phone number.

The phone rang. And rang. Finally, a beep.

"Mom, I think there's something wrong-!"

"_Hi, it's Carol. I'm away from the phone right now, so please leave a message after the beep. Thanks!"_

The phone beeped. And then fell from my hands. I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white.

The phone started ringing. I snatched it up and answered it. "Mom?"

"What is it Emma? You know I shouldn't talk and drive."

I was so close to tears, but I held them back. "Mom, I just coughed up blood." She didn't respond. For a second, I thought the line had gone dead. I coughed and swallowed a mouthful of blood, wiping my red stained lips on the towel. That was when my mom actually started doing something. She spoke in a hurried voice. "Do you have a fever?"

I put the back of my hand on my forehead. It was roasting. "Yeah, I'm sort of light headed too, and my chest hurts." I plopped down on the couch and coughed into the towel again.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, why did you have to get sick today? Dr. Feldman is on vacation, he doesn't get back until tomorrow!" He voice was strained. I tried not to bite my tongue. "Do you think I wanted to get sick? It wasn't really a personal choice, you know!"

I heard her sigh. "Just...keep a bucket by your bedside and we'll go see a doctor in the morning. If you had called earlier, I could have taken you to Urgent Care, but they close in half an hour." Despite my irritation at her, I forced myself to unclench my fist. "Fine, I'll see you then." The phone clicked. She had hung up on me before I could say good night.

Throwing the phone on the couch, I grabbed a large mixing bowl and tromped up the stairs to my bed.

* * *

><p>It was midnight when the vomiting began. I was sitting in bed in my favorite pair of sweats when something in my stomach twisted. I had gotten to the bowl just in time. I didn't want to look, but I couldn't help it. It was bright red. I remembered something from biology class about what the color of vomit blood meant. If it was the color of coffee grounds, it was classic sign of upper gastro-intestinal bleeding. If it was bright red, it was a more severe case. A medical emergency. I clutched my stomach and moaned. Thankfully, none of the younger ones had woken up. They were completely oblivious to the pain I was in.<p>

So much pain...but I was so tired. I tried to keep my eyes open, but I was slipping. My lamp lit room became fuzzy. My head was still spinning. I closed my eyes just for a second, because it helped a little bit. I should probably open my eyes now...I should probably...I needed to...I...

Now I was falling again. I accepted the circumstances and soothed myself as I waited for the nightmare to be over. That's what it all was. Just a bad dream, is all. I was falling and falling, and soon I would wake up and get on the bus and go to school. But I was still falling. This was really starting to get on my nerves. How long had I been falling? I lost all thoughts about time. I couldn't keep track of it. Please hurry up and land, I thought to myself. I needed to wake up and talk with Lana about her love life, and goof around with Sam about something stupid and irrelevant, like burnt toast or something like that. Anything.

This was getting out of hand. I didn't even feel the falling anymore, or I was less aware of it. I could feel the sensation of my stomach leaving my body in zero gravity, but I couldn't see anything, or hear the whistling in my ears.

I needed to wake up because...

Why did I need to wake up? I forgot. Maybe "..." could tell me.

Wait, who?

Slowly, my memories and thoughts were being swiped clean, and then quick like lightning, I had none at all. There was just me and a bubbling something in me that wanted to be released.

What's a me?

This body feels the rushing of water as it rises to the surface. Something is feeling wrong. This body never was in the water, so how is it coming out of it? Feeling is returning. Cold. Ouch. The cold hurts this body...it hurts _me. Ouch._

I can feel the things returning. Basic thoughts. I can recognize myself and the feeling of being pulled out of the coldness. A big white orb in the sky is all I see. Who was me again? I was me. Me and I were the same. I am...shifting through what I can remember in my head. Emma? Do I remember being called that? That must be me. I am Emma, I think. I cling to the pieces of me.

When a dark skinned, aging woman asks me who I am. I am Emma. The word is forced out as I remember how to work the things in me that knows how to speak. The woman asks me how I got here. Why am I here? Where is here? I've never been here. Here is cold. Of all the memories I have control over, none of them include here. I am so frustrated, that a part of my body relearns how to work and some warm liquidy something pools into what I'm seeing with. My eyes. How can I give up anything? I hold on to what little I have. I cannot afford to lose anything. So I close my eyes and trap the wannabe escapee.

Things happen. I'm not sure of what is going on around me. Is it real? Or is it what I called that falling place earlier? A nightmare? Was this one of those?

No. Someone says something and a something in me snaps open like a lock and in my thoughts, my body arches forward, prepared to catch my stolen identity. On the outside, the part of me that they can see, I am a perfect statue. But on the inside, I am dead. That is what happened to me. That must have been what the forever falling was. I am dead, and these people do not exist. So why am I here, dead with fake people? I shake my head side to side. Is it possible to get rid of the horrible reality that I caught? No, this has happened, and I have no idea how to change it back...

_You will not change it back, Renatus. Prepare yourself, for this is your life now. I shall not permit you to defy me again..._

I awoke as the misty voice trailed off into oblivion. Hyperventilating, I tried to calm myself down. A ghost of my stomach cramps ripping into my body. I clutched at the pain that was just a memory. It took everything I had not to scream. The reminder that three people who could _not_ know about my past were in close proximity forced me to be quiet.

Re, who had woken up when I did, uncurled from her tight ball and crawled onto my lap. She seemed to know that something was wrong. She always did this after my nightmares.

They had been happening since the South Pole. No matter how much I tried to avoid them, they always happened. But they were never that..._realistic._ And not once had that creepy voice invaded them. A shiver wracked my body. In a vain attempt to soothe myself, I stoked the campfire. Re basked in the warmth.

I was still rigidly sitting up when I heard a scurrying near Appa. It was only Momo.

He climbed off of Appa's tail and leaped onto my shoulders. His big green eyes looked at the fire, then at me. Lighting a fire with a snap of my fingers, I watched as Momo tried to bat at it before thinking otherwise and hiding from it by burrowing into my long, unbraided hair.

"You're afraid of my fire? Re's not. I guess she wouldn't, because she's a firebender too. But could you grow used to it," I asked, as he came out of hiding and laid on my lap next to Re, completely unconcerned with the fireball in my hand. "Could they be comfortable with the fact that I'm a firebender, like you did? No," I snuffed the fire. "You could care less what I am. They would hate me."

He looked at me as if to tell me to be quiet and let him sleep. I 'tsk'ed and picked him up by the scruff of the neck and putting him back on Appa's tail. "Go find another bed. This one's mine."

I leaned back against the long, fluffy middle leg of the giant bison. I didn't try to go back asleep. The dreams would just haunt me again. So I waited, as I watched the fire dwindle again. I waited and I wondered what a Renatus was...

* * *

><p>(*AN* Well, there you have it. I knew you guys were itching to know what happened to Emma. I'm sorry if it got a little hard to read, but I wanted you to read it from her point of view. Can you imagine losing who you are? It creeps me out. That's why it took so long to write this...sorry :  But now you know what was going through her head when she ended up at the South Pole

And another thing. I got an anonymous review: "I have to say your story is one of the few oc from another world...actually maybe oc in general that doesn't blow. I really like it, it is easy to read, very few grammar mistakes, its interesting and she isn't perfect. Very well done, and I like how you add in a few little things that wasn't mentioned like the hot skin, I thought it was neat."

I can't Private Message you, unknown person who made my day, but if you see this, thank you! : )

4-5 reviews to continue


	11. Book 1 Chapter 11: Bonzai

(*AN* Because what's a good story without a little romantic interest?)

* * *

><p>"Aang, I still owe you an apology. You were just so good at waterbending without really trying. I got so competitive that I put us all in danger. I'm sorry."<p>

I leaned against Appa's saddle as Katara apologized to Aang. I wrung out my hair, still wet from when Aang waterbended the pirates and I over the edge of the boat.  
>"That's okay, Katara," he said. Katara waved her hand in dismissal. "Besides, who needs that stupid scroll anyway?"<br>From out of nowhere, Sokka pulled out the scroll. "Is that really how you feel?"  
>"The scroll!" She reached out to grab it but Sokka held it out of his reach. "First, what did you learn?"<p>

She held her hands behind her back and recited "stealing is wrong" obediently before taking the scroll. "Unless it's from pirates!" I rolled my eyes at her childishness before Aang laughed.

"You know what would be wonderful? Being _dry_," I stated loudly, looking at Aang pointedly. He perked up. "Oh right, sorry!" Clapping his hands together, he bended a gust of warm air straight at me, making my hair stick up at weird angles. Katara giggled at my annoyed expression.

"At least we got some awesome new weapons!" Sokka exclaimed. He held up the meteor hammer and a kwandao spear I had the foresight to snatch from the pirates. I smiled sneakily and pulled out a bag of smoke bombs. "And don't forget these!" Sokka gasped happily and grabbed the bag. Before I could stop him, he unthinkingly tossed one on the saddle.

"Sokka, no!"

* * *

><p>"Short stuff, I'm going to kill you!"<p>

Aang airbended out of my reach. "But I have to save the world!" He jumped again as I made another grab for him.

Wildly, I grabbed a fan from my sash and threw it at him. "I don't care if you're the Avatar! Someone's going to have to save you! You ate the last of my Jennamite!" He avoided the fan and bended himself into a tall red tree, far above my reach "I said I was sorry!" he called down to me.

Grumbling in defeat, I retrieved my fan and pointed it menacingly at Aang. "Some day...," I growled. Turning away, I stomped over to where Re was contently watching our shenanigans with her tail twitching back and forth happily.

"You owe me a whole bag of rock candy!" I shouted as I sat down and pulled my tigerdillo into my lap.

There was a woosh as he landed on the ground, still far enough away from me as to where I wouldn't be able to get him. "There was only like, three small pieces left though." He indicated on his fingers. I turned my highest ranking death glare o him. "Don't forget interest. If you don't get it to me before we get to the North Pole, I expect two bags."

Aang started to complain, only to be shushed by Sokka, who had been watching our antics with Katara. He led us to the Fire Nation traps where he and Aang proceeded to free hogmonkeys and Momo. Then, he convinced us to not fly on Appa, claiming that his 'instincts' told him it was the right thing to do.

Three miles later, my aching feet and I decided that Sokka's instincts were stupid. Katara and Aang cracked jokes about them, and only the knowledge of how spot on they actually were kept me from joining in the laughter.

"You know what would be funny," I said as we tromped through bushes. "If Sokka's instincts were…right." I trailed off as we interrupted a Fire nation troop dinner. We blinked stupidly at them before they started advancing. A man firebended a wall of fire behind us, completely trapping them and I.

Readying my fans, I took a stance, breathed in, and breathed out, secretly bending the flames that were farther away closer to me. They gave me confidence and I felt stronger. I did all of this while looking like I was getting ready to fight.

The man raised his fist…

And I threw my fan at his forehead with enough force to leave a bright red mark. He growled angrily and charged at me.

We were locked in combat, my fans against his firebending. I avoided a fiery punch. He deftly sidestepped an attempt of mine to trip him. I redirected a kick; he barely dodged a swipe of my sharp fan. Finally, I managed to get behind him after he had lunged carelessly at me. With a not-so-soft stomp kick to the back, he fell onto his face. As he rolled over, breathing heavily, my fist was inches away from his nose and he was trapped. I'm sure he felt the heat of my bending reveal itself as I prepared to use it if necessary. Sweat rolled down his forehead, and he looked panicked. Glances around the campsite confirmed that the rest of his men were defeated.

A tall boy with a twig in his mouth strolled over and nudged the man with his foot. Jet.

He spared a fleeting glance at me and nodded in approval before striding away. "Good job with that one," he called lazily. He then struck up a conversation with a blushing Katara. I rolled my eyes and scowled.

"I don't want _your_ approval," I muttered under my breath. Sokka was giving Jet the same dirty look I was. "Your instincts don't like him either?"

"My instincts don't like him either." Nor did the fact that I knew what he was planning.

* * *

><p>No matter how much Katara pleaded with me, I refused to go to dinner. There was no way I would listen to that arrogant jerk show off his victory like he had won a war with his own two hands. Couple that with the stinky freedom fighters stuffing their faces with sweets, and I was sure to get sick. No, I was staying in our hut, thank you very much.<p>

Katara pouted for a second, before I reminded her that Jet was waiting. With that, she blushed three shades of red and was off.

To distract myself from the rumbling in my stomach, I played catch with Re in the cramped space. I only had a single earth nut left, so instead of eating it, I tossed it against the tarp wall up high and watched Re try to jump up and catch it. So far, I was winning the game 41-36. I kept track of points like this: she caught it, she got a point; if the nut touched the floor before it got back to me, I would get a point. It was all fine and dandy until she decided that she was bored and ate the nut.

I stuck out my lower lip and slouched against the wall. Re plopped her butt on the floor and tilted her head as if to say "so what do we do now?"

"I don't know! You're the one who ate our entertainment!" She mewed and flicked her tail back and forth before pouncing on my stomach. With the breath knocked out of me, I thumped my head against the wall and groaned when my stomach growled again. The tigerdillo went to pace in front of the door. She wanted to go to the feast.

"No!" I shouted. My stomach roared. I went silent for a minute. "Fine."

* * *

><p>I made way to where I heard a group of kids shouting and cheering. I kept my head low, but bumped into some guy carrying a barrel of blasting jelly who was going the opposite way. We exchanged apologies and I joined my friends at the low table.<p>

Aang greeted me happily, making room between him and Sokka for me to sit. Apparently, the main course was over and kids had brought in dessert. I sat and eyed the candies and cakes in front of me with distaste. Sokka, remembering how much I disliked sweets, managed to scrounge a plate full of fish and some kind of pig. I flashed him a grateful look and dug in while he explained the "important mission" Jet had planned for him.

"I don't know, Sokka," I said after swallowing a mouthful of fish. "Should you really be going on that mission? It could be dangerous. And like you said, we really should be leaving."

Jet looked up from his spot next to Katara and scowled. "I know you lost your memory, but no one can forget how horrible the Fire Nation is. It's probably their fault you lost it in the first place." He scratched his chin thoughtfully while I glared around him at Katara. She sent me an apologetic look for telling him my predicament as Jet spoke. "You know, I've heard you're a fair fighter too. If you want, you could join us. It'll be fun"

It took all I had not to spit out that I didn't attack harmless old men for fun. Instead, I clenched my fists and stood up. With one last hostile look at Jet, I stood up and left the feast.

There weren't many places I could go, so I ended up walking around the large perimeter of a cluster of tree houses a ways away from where I would be sleeping.

While I tied and untied a piece of rope I had found, I thought about a lot of things. My family, my old friends, my new friends, the fact that I needed to practice the katas I had learned on Kyoshi Island, the fact that I severely missed my iPod from back home. Random things like that.

I was running through my last training session, berating myself on the too-high stances when I bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm sorry," I burst out before I knew who it was. My eyes flitted upwards to the face of the guy I had run into.

It was the same one as before, and he was wearing a sour expression, holding another crate away from me. "Watch where you're going, this blasting jelly is very explosive and highly sensitive! If I didn't know any better, I'd assume you want to explode!" He blew a piece of reddish-brown hair out of his eyes. It fell back in his face.

I backed up a few paces. "I said I was sorry," I retorted, playing mindlessly with the rope while I looked at him. He huffed. His over-sized shirt made him look small, but in reality, he was much taller than me. He looked down at me.

"What?" I bit my lip in a fit of self-consciousness. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He set down the crate and crossed his arms over his chest. "You bumped into me earlier. And I've never seen you here before."

I 'hmmed' and undid a knot with a tug. "I arrived here earlier with the Avatar and friends."

Hands now in his pockets, he nodded in understanding. "I didn't see you at dinner, though." Now it was my turn to cross my arms in defense. "That's because I wasn't there for most of it. That's where I was heading earlier."

"That explains it. I left early to stow away the blasting jelly." One of his hands reached up to play with a beaded necklace. "My name's Bonzai, by the way."

My rope was twisted around my fingers. "Emma."

"That's an odd name."

"So is Bonzai."

"Touché." Bonzai cleared his throat awkwardly. I sighed, flattened my rope, and turned to walk away. "Well, goodbye then."

I was headed for my hut when I heard heavy footsteps behind me. Apparently, Bonzai had regained his bearings. I spun around and raised an eyebrow. He raised his hands innocently. "It's dark out here; I'm just going to make sure you get to your tree house safely."

Clenching my fists, I pointed a finger at him accusingly. "I don't need protection!" Then I stormed off, until I heard him behind me again. I was about to turn on him again. "Is there something you want?" Bonzai patted the crate. "I'm going this way anyways." He smiled and I was infuriated by his nonchalant-ness. I knew most of my anger was towards Jet, but I just needed someone to take it out on.

"Whatever, then." The rope in my hands was now a small noose. I was intent on ignoring him. Even the sounds of his shoes against the wooden walkway sounded annoying, though. "Really, I don't need assistance. I'm not some vulnerable little girl. Could you please go a different way?" I flipped a loose strand of hair from my eyes and willed myself to keep my body temperature in check.

He grinned at me in the darkness. "Sorry, there's no alternative route."

My anger got the better of me. Turning on my heel, I lashed out at him. "Don't you have a Fire Nation village to blow up or something," I asked lowly. A shadow passed over his eyes but it was gone before he grinned half-heartedly. "What's got your tail in a bunch, hencat?" "I am not a hencat," I hissed.

He grinned. "You sound like one now, too. Are you sure someone hasn't been plucking your feathers?" Bonzai twisted the beads on his necklace and chuckled at his own joke. As hard as I was trying to stay angry, I couldn't help smile a little bit. It _was _kind of funny. Though I tried to hide it, Bonzai saw. "There we go," he cheered. "Not so much of a fussy hencat now, are we? At first, I was thinking someone had stolen some of your eggs and fried them up for breakfast."

My lips curved up into a smile. "I really wish you'd stop referring to me as an animal." He waved off my request and sat on the crate, motioning for me to sit on a barrel of water next to him. "Well, you're at the Freedom Fighter's place now. Everyone here has a nickname."

"Yeah, well I'm only here until my friends decide to leave." I tugged a knot loose in the rope and wound it up. "Don't you have an actual name?"

The boy tilted his chin up and looked out into the sky. I knew immediately that I had hit a nerve and wished that I hadn't have said that. He reassured me that it didn't bother him. It took a split second for his bereft expression was replaced by a grin. "You know, I've been here so long, I don't even remember what my parents called me. I just know that I lived in a colony until it burnt to the ground. But you don't want to listen to my sob story."

Not knowing what to do with myself, I left my hands in my lap and frowned. Without warning, Bonzai reached a hand out and ruffled my hair before I could react. My hands automatically went to my head. "Hey-!" It was too late; my hair was unmanageably tangled now. I sent a narrow-eyed glare at him, who was struggling to hold back laughter.

"What?" I snapped.

He tried to pat my head, but I put my hands over it protectively and moved away. "Haha, don't be like that. You would be laughing too if you could see yourself! It looks like a hencat decided to nest in your hair." I couldn't help but giggle at his conclusion. Deeming it helpless, I gave up trying to smooth out my hair and just put it back into a loose ponytail. Looking up at Bonzai, I noticed that he was looking at me strangely.

"What now?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, just zoning out, I guess."

I stood up and leaned against the wooden railing, looking out at the starry night sky. "Mhm." The moon caught my attention. It was a giant glowing orb in the blue-black sky. A full moon. I wondered in the back of my head if that was why I was feeling so calm all of a sudden. The idea made me want to snort. I mean, it wasn't like I was a waterbender.

To my left, Bonzai got up and jumped up onto the railing, balancing next to me. "When you live in the trees, you get used to walking on small spaces. Hey, watch this." With a wink, he jumped.

"Bonzai!" I leaned over and tore my head left and right, looking for any sign of him. "Where are you!"

When I was tapped on the shoulder from behind, I nearly jumped over myself. "Bonzai!" I yelled, clutching my heart as I turned around. He was hanging upside down from a branch by his knees. Bonzai maneuvered himself until he was hanging next to me on a rope. "Did I scare you?"

Still holding a hand to my heart, I continued to breathe heavily as the initial shock wore off. "Don't ever do that again!" I yelled as I pushed him and watched as he swung back and forth lightly on the rope.

Yet another smile graced my face as I saw his goofy grin.

"How did you do that?" He landed on the wood with a muted thump and bowed with a flourish of his hand. "A magician never tells his secret," he said with another wink.

I batted his arm playfully. "C'mon, Tarzan, it's time for me to go to bed."

"What's a tarzan?"

"Nevermind, just walk me to my tree house"

* * *

><p>We reached my place in only a few minutes. Bonzai was just telling me how he was working on a new explosive that worked using egg shells rather than blasting jelly or boom powder when we got to mine and Katara's hut. She was inside sprawled out on her sleeping bag. Reluctantly, I played with the drape that served as the door.<p>

"So, see you tomorrow?"

For the first time I looked up at his eyes. They were sort of a rusty green, like moss. Something shone in them that I couldn't quite place. The corner of his mouth quirked up into a half smile. "I'll meet you after breakfast by the bomb hut, if that's okay." He pointed to the cluster of huts we had run into each other at. "It's the larger one with the metal door."

I nodded. "Alright then, goodnight."

As I went to turn around, he caught my wrist and spun me around to face him. "What..?"

Bonzai looked into my eyes again. "Goodnight, little hencat."

We were close enough that our fronts brushed against one another. Taken by surprise by the sudden closeness, I laughed feebly and breathlessly. "Night."

And then he was gone with a small wave and a grin, leaving me in the dark by myself, still piecing together what had happened.

* * *

><p>I woke up just as a ray of sunshine shone through small hole in the tarp, leaving patches on the wooden floor. As I hoisted myself up into a sitting position, I was blinded by a ray. I thumped back onto the sleeping bag sleepily.<p>

With a jolt like a straight shot of coffee to my veins, I was as awake as the birds chirping away outside.

Katara must have already left for breakfast, because her sleeping bag was rolled up neatly in the corner. I leaped to the door, just leaving mine where it was. The bubbly sunshine creeped onto my skin when I was outside, and I loved it.

With one more glance inside the hut to make sure Re was gone as well, I headed to where we had eaten dinner yesterday.

Momo jumped on my shoulder from out of nowhere and scurried around until he sat comfortably on my head. I tilted forward until he slid off and caught him in my arms. Holding him out at arm's length, I twirled once and set him down before patting him on the head and starting to walk again. "Today's going to be a good day, Momo. With the birds singing and the sun smiling, I can just tell, can't you?" He tilted his head and chirped.

"Oh, I know you don't understand me, but since you're supposed to be the reincarnation of Monk Gyatso, you were once wise, right?"

I stopped and furrowed my eyebrows. Here I was, twirling like an idiot and talking to an animal. I took a moment to shake my head in disbelief before shrugging it off. "Even I'm allowed to be happy sometimes, right Momo? Momo?" I looked around for him and realized that he had left.

"Great, now I'm talking to myself."

"You know, I think only crazy people do that. And Bumi."

Turning to see it was only Aang, I stuck out my tongue at him. "You're just jealous that you're not as awesome as Bumi and I."

He cocked an eyebrow at me and smiled. "Why are you so happy? You're _never_ this happy. Not-that I don't like it," he backtracked.

My thoughts shifted to last night for a split second before I shrugged. "I guess it's just the beautiful weather affecting me."Momo was on Aang's shoulder sitting contently. Aang reached up to scratch behind his ear while he stared off into the distance.

"Hey, what's up?" I cast a confused glance at him. "You seem a little down, what's bugging you?" Aang looked up as if just realizing that I was still there. "What? Oh. Nothing- I mean, I thought I heard you say something about Monk Gyatso earlier." His eyebrows knit together. "But I probably heard wrong. It's not like you would be talking about him, right?"

I mentally hit myself. Aang had heard that? "H-how much did you hear?" Geez, why couldn't I keep my big mouth shut?

"I walked over just as you said his name…"

In aggravation, I fisted my hair and bit my lip. There was no point in keeping it from him, I guess. "Uh, Aang, I sort of have a…theory, actually."

"About what?"

I put a loose strand of hair behind my ear and put my hands on his shoulders. "It's about Monk Gyatso…and Momo."

Aang's hand reached up to Momo but stopped uncertainly. "How could they be related?" Momo blinked down at me, giving me the strength to keep going.

"Well, Air Nomads believe in reincarnation right? I mean, you're the Avatar; you're the greatest proof of reincarnation." He nodded his head. "After a being dies, its soul is reborn into another body." His shoulders suddenly stiffened under my hands. Momo hopped down from his perch and skittered after a bug.

Aang watched him with wide eyes and stuttered back a few steps. "You're saying th-that you think _Momo_ is…is…" He trailed off. As we watched Momo scurry around after the bug, his fingers twitched uncertainly. Momo must have sensed that something was wrong, because he suddenly stared up at Aang with his big green eyes. I saw him hesitate before Aang stooped down to his level. Without further ado, the flying lemur scampered up his arm and circled his shoulders, twittering happily. He finally stopped and nuzzled Aang's cheek.

I watched their exchange quietly from the side of the walkway, my arms crossed over my chest loosely. Seeing the bond between them, I mean, up close, it was such an intimate thing. It wasn't anything someone could get the feel of watching TV. It was real and true. It was so much more than a cartoon could portray.

Aang stood up, cradling Momo in his arms. "Emmy, I think you're right. When I'm with Momo, it's like I'm back at the Air Temple with Gyatso again. When I'm with Appa, I'm reminded of the temple just as clearly, but Momo…it's like I have my best friend again."

The corner of my mouth raised into a gentle smile.

"That would explain what happened at the Temple," he continued in a strangled voice. "When I found out what had happened to him, I was so upset. I could feel my very being ripping away. I wanted revenge on the Fire Nation. It was…terrifying." My motherly instincts that I had gained through years of caring for my brother and sisters kicked in then and I put my arms around him to soothe him.

"But then Momo was there," he croaked. "He calmed me down like no one but Gyatso ever could. I didn't feel so angry, but it _hurt_. It still hurts."

"Oh Aang," I mumbled.

"I could feel him there. It was like he was right there with me. And I guess he was." Momo chattered to remind us that he was still there. Aang sniffled and smiled through his tears. Momo reached up and playfully batted Aang's chin. I rubbed Aang's head as he look at his lemur, mystified. Sighing, I looked in the direction of the bomb hut longingly. The airbender notices me peering over his shoulder. "What?" he asked, twisting around to look into the trees.

I just smiled and shook my head. "I'm just uber hungry. C'mon, let's go get some eggs!" Aang jumped up happily. "They have eggs? What are we waiting for?" He looked down at Momo. "Sorry for throwing those Fire Nation snaps at you." Then he sped off with the lemur, leaving me in the dust. "Hey Katara, guess what-!" I heard, as he shouted to tell her about Momo. Re bounded out of the shadows of a tree, where she must have been lurking to chase them there.

* * *

><p>I situated myself on a cushion and piled my plate with one of everything, including a strip of bacon and a hardboiled hencat egg that I set on my plate with a private smile. Soon, Katara inquired as to where Sokka went. Stuffing my mouth with bacon, I avoided her eyes. Jet came over and explained what he needed the waterbenders to do. He didn't even spare a glance in my direction. <em>Probably because there's no way I'd help him<em>, I thought to myself.

"Are you sure you'll be okay here without us," Katara asked me, staring at Jet while his back was turned. I cast a sour look at him and pointed it towards her. "Don't worry about me, I'll just finish eating and go check out what these guys have for explosives."

At the mention of that, Jet looked up. "You're into bombs? Make sure our explosion specialist is in the bomb hut before you go snooping around." He picked up an egg and played with it for a second before tossing it to Katara, who caught it eagerly. "If he's not there, he'll be tending the hencats."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be there," I muttered under my breath. "He'll be needing to restock all the bombs _you're_ going to use."

"What was that?" Jet asked sharply.

I smiled politely. "Oh nothing, I was just saying how much I love hencats!" For a moment, it seemed like Jet was on to me, but with my superior lying skills, he was convinced. Shrugging, he led Katara and Aang away to fill the reservoir with water.

* * *

><p>At the bomb hut, I waited for Bonzai to show up. For the first few minutes, I waited outside the door. Then I started braiding and unbraiding my hair. By the time I was at the point of pacing, I decided that I could be doing more important things, like going out and finding Sokka. What was the harm in speeding up the plot a little, anyways?<p>

I rubbed my arm and hesitantly left. It seemed that, regrettably, he wasn't showing up.

Slowly, I marched away. "Ugh, I should have just gone straight back to the hut last night."

Suddenly, someone grabbed my am. With a fast maneuver, I reversed their grip and threw them to the ground. "Sorry…for being…late," Bonzai chocked out. I helped him to his feet and glared at him.

"I thought you stood me up," I said defensively. Crossing my arms, I turned most of my body away from him, signaling that I was angry with him. Bonzai stood hunched over, gasping for air. It looked like he had run here from wherever he had come from. "I'm so sorry…Jet wanted me to load…as much blasting jelly…as I could onto a cart…couldn't say no."

The thought of Bonzai helping to blow up the dam made me uneasy, but I fought the feeling down with the slight chance that he didn't know what was going on. So instead of leaving him here alone, I sighed and slouched against a tree trunk. "I guess I forgive you. But you better not leave me hanging around again."

With his lungs full of oxygen again, Bonzai chuckled and gestured for me to follow him back to the bomb hut.

"Check this out," he called as we entered the hut. "It's a bomb that runs purely on food scraps and hogmonkey well, um…yeah, you get the point. It's real dangerous." He played with his beaded necklace in embarrassment before rushing over to a makeshift shelf and pulling out a cloth bag. "These, are smoke bombs, sort of. No matter how hard I try, I can't get the same result as a real one. The cloud always clears too fast."

Smiling as his excitement as he showed me his work, I fingered the bag of smoke bombs I had traded at a high risk from the pirates that hung off my sash. "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if you had _real_ smoke bombs to compare and study?"

Pawing through a pile of junk, he barely acknowledged what I had said. "Yeah, but there's no way I'd ever get my hands on some. The only resources I have are from my cuts of the Fire Nation army loot, and the ones I make. And the Fire Nation doesn't use smoke bombs." He started when I swung the bag in front of his face. "If that be the case, then I extend me bargains to ya. What say, 200 gold pieces for such a fine treasure?"

For a moment, Bonzai stared dumbly at it before realizing what it contained. He grinned when I tossed it to him. "Are you kidding me? Where in the world did you get these?" Still using my pirate voice, I leaned on the table with one arm, and one hand on my waist. "Let's just say a wee birdie dropped 'em in me hand for a reasonable sum. Free."

He shook his head and laughed. "You know, I'm not even going to _ask_ for that story." With a huge grin, he looked at me. "Hey, what do you say we go test these out? For research sake?" Grabbing a relatively small box, he winked at me. "I'll let you try some of my prototypes."

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "I'd love to but..I could be doing so much more important things, like staring at a tree…and watching the grass grow." With a side glance at him, I took the box from him so he could get a pad of paper and a paintbrush, as well as the bag of smoke bombs. "So yeah, let's go."

* * *

><p>He led me to a secluded area of rocky terrain that had lots of scorch marks.<p>

"This is the unofficial testing zone. Jet let me do this here because barely any troops want to camp in this area. Apparently, there are these really annoying kids that are hiding in the trees that have ambushed a lot of squads here before. They say it's jinxed or something," he said with a shrug.

"Oh, I can imagine. Now, explain to me again what we're going to do." Setting the crate down, he motioned to the outer edge of the clearing. "We're going to use those big rocks as targets. The point of the tests are to find out how explosive the bombs are, to see how far any debris will fly, how loud they are, and over all, how effective they would be in ambush or any other situation. You'll want to stand back a little bit more, so you don't get hit by a chunk of rock or anything. I don't want the Avatar mad at me because I blew up his friend. Or your Water Tribe friend."

"Which one," I asked, emptying the box of all the bombs. "The waterbender or the sarcastic one?"

Bonzai stuck his hands in his pockets and lowered his voice. "Well, I definitely don't want any bender mad at me, because I value my life, but I was talking about the guy."

"Ha, don't worry about him. He seems all puffed up on the outside, but he couldn't hurt a fly."

"I think he would mind if I hurt you, though."

Ceasing what I was doing, I contemplated the idea that maybe Bonzai was _jealous_ of Sokka.

Slyly, I fanned myself with my Kyoshi warrior fan. "Yeah, he'd probably flip out, but that's what friends do. Sometimes I'm glad I'm traveling with him."

With his back turned, I couldn't see his face, but I noticed his shoulders stiffen. "Oh really?"

"Mhm. It's nice to have a brother figure like him around." I watched with a small smile as he relaxed and got back to setting up a target zone. Dusting off his hands, Bonzai picked up two small pouches, handed one to me, and we proceeded to back up. "There, this should be far enough." The rock looked so much smaller from this far away.

He nudged my shoulder with his. "Ladies first?" I wound up my arm. "Gladly." With as much force as I could muster, I threw the bomb as close to the rock as possible. The ground shook from the force of the explosion, and I stumbled into Bonzai. He lost his balance, and we both ended up on the ground. With bright red cheeks, I rolled off of him and brushed a stray piece of hair behind my ear. "Ah, sorry."

He tossed the bomb he was throwing in the general direction of the target zone and leaned against his elbows. "No problem, Emma, I didn't mind at all." He grinned as the explosion went off, causing me flinch and clutch his arm is surprise. "Nope, I don't mind."

Pulling out his paper, he scribbled something. "…long range…" he muttered as he wrote. With a flourish, he put the paintbrush back behind his ear and nodded to himself. "That'll be something that Longshot will want his hands on. He's always begging me for long range explosives. He says they make practice fun."

I nodded politely, wondering if Longshot _ever_ talked. Bonzai reached for the pile of bombs and pulled out the biggest one out and held it out to me. I took it with both hands cautiously.

"Now, let's see this guy in action!"

* * *

><p>"My parents were farmers. I can remember my mom once saying that an honest living gave you an honest spirit." We walked back towards the hideout, Bonzai's arm splayed across my shoulders as he told me about how he became a Freedom Fighter.<p>

"Well, my village was burnt down-I think it was because of Fire Nation troop's training gone wrong-and I wandered from town to town for a while before I met Smellerbee. You see, I had a whole bag of money saved up from working odd jobs, and I did what any ten year old would do: I bought my first bag of blasting jelly. The soldiers who sold it to me were obviously breaking the law, selling explosive material to a minor, but it didn't really matter because right after I bought it from them, Jet led a raid on their campsite."

He paused for dramatic effect and I let out a slightly theatrical gasp. He continued, satisfied by my reaction.

"Smellerbee was going to attack me, because she thought I was Fire Nation too. Luckily, Longshot butt in and stopped her. I've been under their wing for the whole six years that I've been here."

I rested my head against his shoulder. "That's a fascinating tale, Mr. Bonzai. I wish I could counter it, but, uh, you know my situation." Biting my lip, I bereted myself for lying about my past, but a handsome smile wasn't going to make me put down my guard that easily. I wanted too, though…

Bonzai pulled my close and rubbed my arm. "Don't worry; you'll get your memory back some day. The spirits will see that you deserve to remember, and they'll give it back to you." His statement made me stop in my tracks. "What's wrong?" he asked.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "That's just it. What if my past was forgotten for a reason? Maybe, it would be better for me to just forget everything that happened and pay more attention to what will happen. I shouldn't preoccupy myself with my past. Only my future matters. It doesn't matter that I want to go home, because I have no idea how to get there. I just have to…start anew and, you know, keep what I forgot forgotten."

Though my eyes were closed, I felt Bonzai shake his head. "You can't think like that," he whispered. "Sure, go ahead and make a new life, but don't ever forget that you had one before. And don't ever give up trying to get back home." He removed his arm from around me and started digging around in his pockets. He ended up pulling something out, but hid it in his hands.

"Do you want to know the real reason I was late this morning? Close your eyes and hold out your hands." I did so. He placed something small and metallic into my outstretched palms. I could feel that parts of it were round."Now open them," Bonzai said eagerly.

In my hands, was a pair of earrings. They weren't extravagant, or extremely expensive. They looked like they were made of bronze; a bronze ball hanging off a delicate chain."Oh Bonzai, thank you! They're beautiful." I put them in, and tilted my head back and forth, feeling the cool metal against my cheek.

He played with his necklace. "I didn't make them myself. I traded a whole basket of hencat eggs for them at the market in town. The merchant's a friend of mine who-" A loud roar echoed in the forest, interrupting what he was going to say. Peering into the sky, I saw my friends on Appa.

"There she is!" I heard Aang shout. "C'mon, Emmy!" I heard Re mew.

Perplexed, I grabbed Bonzai's hand. "I've got to go."

"What? Why can't you stay a little bit longer?" Bonzai obviously didn't know about the dam, otherwise he would have understood my friend's urgency. Before I could think better of it, I leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "Bonzai, listen to me carefully. There's going to be a time when Smellerbee, Longshot and Jet leave and head out to go to Ba Sing Se. You _have_ to go with them, okay?"

"Emma, I don't understand what you're saying. How do you know that that's going to happen?"

I looked him straight in the eye. "I'll see you in Ba Sing Se, I promise. Just believe me!" I threw my arms around him and hugged him fiercely until Aang shouted from on top of Appa's head that we had to go.

"Goodbye Bonzai."

* * *

><p>(*AN*-Apparently, the Freedom Fighter's hideout is a great place to find romantic interests. And by the way, throwing bombs is the best first date EVER.<p>

Nonono, my precious readers, this shall not be the last time he's in this story, trust me. *laughs evily*

The reason I skipped the episode before this is because it didn't change much with Emma in it. Aaand, I was watching "The Path to Korra" (just an ATLA marathon with extras) on Nickelodeon and REALLY wanted to do this episode!

So, a few reviews to continue, as always. Have a happy April, because I might not update in a while; my birthday is the 20th :)


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